Symphyotrichum tenuifolium |
Symphyotrichum potosinum |
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perennial saltmarsh American-aster, perennial saltmarsh aster |
Santa Rita Mountain aster |
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Habit | Perennials, (20–)40–60(–100) cm, colonial or cespitose; rhizoma-tous. | Perennials, 15–35(–45) cm, colonial or cespitose; rhizoma-tous. | ||||
Stems | 1–5+, ascending to erect (often with purple or purplish brown areas, flexuous, wiry), little-branched, usually glabrous, sometimes hairy in lines distally. |
1–3+, ascending to erect (sometimes purple or purplish brown), glabrous or glabrate, sparsely hairy in leaf axils [villous to sericeous]. |
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Leaves | thick (fleshy), margins entire, faces glabrous; basal withering by flowering (new winter rosettes appearing at flowering), petiolate (petioles sheathing), blades ovate or oblanceolate, 15–20 × 5–15 mm, bases cuneate, apices rounded; proximal cauline withering by flowering, usually sessile, blades lanceolate, linear-lanceolate or -oblanceolate, to linear, 7–80(–150) × 1–6 (–12) mm, bases attenuate, margins entire, apices acuminate to acute; distal sessile, blades narrowly lanceolate to subulate, 10–110 × 0.5–5 mm, apices acuminate. |
thin, apices callous-pointed, faces glabrous or glabrate; basal usually withering by flowering, long-petiolate, petioles sheathing, sparsely ciliate, blades lanceolate, 40–110 × (3–)5–7 mm, bases attenuate, margins entire to crenulate, rarely with 1–2 teeth, apices obtuse to rounded, callus-pointed; proximalmost cauline sometimes withering by flowering, winged-petiolate or sessile distally, blades lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 50–120(–180) × 1–6 mm, bases attenuate, margins entire, sparsely ciliate, apices acute; distal sessile, blades subulate to lanceolate, 10–50 × 1–2 mm, bases clasping, apices acuminate. |
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Peduncles | 0.6–4 (–6) cm, bracts 2–8, awl-shaped, grading into phyllaries. |
1–4(–6) cm, ascending, glabrate, bracts 1–4(–5), subulate to lanceolate, foliaceous. |
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Involucres | narrowly turbinate, 4.1–9.5(–11) mm. |
cylindric to hemispheric, (4.5–)5–7.3 mm. |
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Ray florets | 10–25; corollas white or pink, laminae (4.5–)5–8.5(–9.5) × 1.2–2 mm. |
14–27; corollas white, laminae (4.6–)5.6–7(–9.5)–10.3 × 1.3–2 mm. |
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Disc florets | 25–45(–54); corollas yellow becoming purplish, 3.4–6(–6.8) mm, tubes shorter than to equaling the narrowly funnelform throats (sparsely hairy at base), lobes ± erect, narrowly triangular, 0.5–0.8 mm. |
18–35(–42); corollas yellow, 3.5–5 mm, tubes shorter than funnelform throats (hairy), lobes± spreading, triangular, 0.5–0.7 mm. |
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Phyllaries | in 4–5 series, lanceolate to subulate, bases indurate, rounded, margins hyaline, often tinged with purple, entire, green zones spatulate to oblanceolate-rhombic, apices acute, adaxial faces glabrous or minutely hairy distally. |
in 2–3(–5) series, subulate to lanceolate, bases indurate, margins hyaline, entire to erose, often ciliate, green zones linear-lanceolate (outer) or rhombic (inner), apices acute, faces glabrous [sparsely villous]. |
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Heads | (1–)3–20(–40), in open, diffuse, paniculiform arrays, branches patent. |
(1–)3–20(–40), in paniculiform arrays, branches patent. |
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Cypselae | light brown, narrowly obovoid to fusiform, sometimes ± compressed, 1.5–4(–4.5) mm, 5–6-nerved, faces sparsely strigillose; pappi tawny to white, 3–6.1 mm. |
light brown to gray, narrowly obovoid to fusiform, sometimes ± compressed, 2–3 mm, 5-nerved, faces glabrate to sparsely strigillose; pappi white to cream, 3.5–5.5 mm. |
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2n | = 10. |
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Symphyotrichum tenuifolium |
Symphyotrichum potosinum |
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Phenology | Flowering (Jun–)Jul–Sep. | |||||
Habitat | Moist, muddy, sandy, or rocky soils along streams | |||||
Elevation | 1500–1900 m (4900–6200 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
AL; CT; DE; FL; GA; LA; MA; MD; ME; MS; NC; NH; NJ; NY; RI; SC; TX; VA; West Indies
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AZ; Mexico |
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Discussion | Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). Along the Gulf of Mexico Coast in central and northern peninsular Florida, vars. tenuifolium and aphyllum intergrade in nearly all characters (S. D. Sundberg 2004). G. L. Nesom (2005d) treated the varieties as species. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Of conservation concern. Symphyotrichum potosinum is known from Cochise County, Arizona, south into Mexico to northern Oaxaca. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 20, p. 479. | FNA vol. 20, p. 480. | ||||
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Astropolium | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Astropolium | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Aster tenuifolius | Aster potosinus, Aster lemmonii | ||||
Name authority | (Linnaeus) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 293. (1995) | (A. Gray) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 289. (1995) | ||||
Web links |