Symphyotrichum tenuifolium |
Symphyotrichum pratense |
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perennial saltmarsh American-aster, perennial saltmarsh aster |
barrens silky aster |
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Habit | Perennials, (20–)40–60(–100) cm, colonial or cespitose; rhizoma-tous. | Perennials, 40–60 cm, cespitose, eglandular; with cormoid, woody caudices. | ||||
Stems | 1–5+, ascending to erect (often with purple or purplish brown areas, flexuous, wiry), little-branched, usually glabrous, sometimes hairy in lines distally. |
5–10+, ascending to erect (brown), glabrous or sparsely strigose distally. |
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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. |
(grayish green) firm, margins entire; basal withering by flowering, sessile, blades (1–3 nerved) elliptic-lanceolate, 20–40 × 10–20 mm, bases attenuate, margins usually entire, rarely remotely serrate, piloso-ciliate, apices acute to obtuse, faces piloso-scabrous; proximal cauline withering by flowering, sessile, blades oblanceolate, 20–30 × 5–13 mm, reduced distally, bases rounded, subclasping, margins entire, scrabrous, apices acute to obtuse, cuspidate-mucronate, faces glabrous or moderately strigose or ± scabrous; distal sessile, blades oblong-lanceolate, 15–25 × 4–6 mm, bases cuneate, margins entire, apices acute, white-spinulose, faces glabrate to moderately strigose or ± scabrous. |
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Peduncles | 0.6–4 (–6) cm, bracts 2–8, awl-shaped, grading into phyllaries. |
glabrous or sparsely strigose, bracts oblong-lanceolate, grading into phyllaries. |
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Involucres | narrowly turbinate, 4.1–9.5(–11) mm. |
narrowly campanulate, 6–11 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. |
13–15(–36); corollas rose-purple, laminae 8–13 × 1–2 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. |
16–34(–48); corollas pink turning purple, 4.5–7.5 mm, tubes shorter than narrowly funnelform throats (sometimes thinly puberulent), lobes triangular, 8–13 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 3–4 series, outer broadly lanceolate, flaring distally, inner linear-lanceolate, subequal, outer foliceous, bases (tan) ± indurate, margins long-piloso-ciliate, green zones foliaceous (outer), apices sometimes purplish, acute (outer) to acuminate (inner), faces glabrous or sparsely short-pilose. |
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Heads | (1–)3–20(–40), in open, diffuse, paniculiform arrays, branches patent. |
in open, paniculiform arrays (1–5+ per branch). |
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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. |
tan to light brown, obovoid, not compressed, ± 3 mm, 5–8-nerved, faces glabrous; pappi tan, 3.5–6 mm. |
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2n | = 10, 20. |
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Symphyotrichum tenuifolium |
Symphyotrichum pratense |
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Phenology | Flowering Oct–Nov. | |||||
Habitat | Prairies, oak woodlands, pine-oak scrub, fields, roadsides | |||||
Elevation | 0–500 m (0–1600 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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AL; AR; FL; GA; KY; LA; MS; TN; TX; VA
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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.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 20, p. 479. | FNA vol. 20, p. 493. | ||||
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Astropolium | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Virgulus | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Aster tenuifolius | Aster pratensis, Aster phyllolepis, Aster sericeus var. microphyllus, S. sericeum var. microphyllum, Virgulus pratensis | ||||
Name authority | (Linnaeus) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 293. (1995) | (Rafinesque) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 290. (1995) | ||||
Web links |