Symphyotrichum tenuifolium |
Symphyotrichum tradescantii |
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perennial saltmarsh American-aster, perennial saltmarsh aster |
aster de Tradescant, shore aster, Tradescant's American-aster, Tradescant's aster |
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Habit | Perennials, (20–)40–60(–100) cm, colonial or cespitose; rhizoma-tous. | Perennials, 5–70 cm, cespitose; short-rhizomatous. | ||||
Stems | 1–5+, ascending to erect (often with purple or purplish brown areas, flexuous, wiry), little-branched, usually glabrous, sometimes hairy in lines distally. |
1–5+, ascending to erect (straight, slender, 1–2.5(–3) mm diam.), glabrous. |
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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, margins scabrous to scabrellous or eciliate, apices mucronulate, faces glabrous; basal persistent or withering by flowering, petiolate (petioles slightly winged, sheathing), blades spatulate to elliptic or oblanceolate, 10–40 × 5–11 mm, bases cuneate to attenuate, margins crenate-serrate, apices obtuse to acute; proximal cauline persistent or withering by flowering, ± broadly winged-petiolate or sessile, blades oblong, lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate to oblanceolate, or linear-lanceolate, 20–100 × 3–9 mm, bases attenuate to cuneate, slightly clasping, margins serrulate or entire; distal sessile, blades oblanceolate to linear-lanceolate or linear, 10–60 × 1–7 mm, gradually reduced distally, bases cuneate to tapering, margins serrulate or entire, apices acute to acuminate. |
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Peduncles | 0.6–4 (–6) cm, bracts 2–8, awl-shaped, grading into phyllaries. |
ascending, 0.2–2.5+ cm, glabrous, bracts 1–4, subulate to linear. |
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Involucres | narrowly turbinate, 4.1–9.5(–11) mm. |
cylindro-campanulate, 3.3–4.5(–5) 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 4.3–8.2 × 0.7–0.8 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. |
20–30; corollas pale yellow becoming purplish, 3–4.1 mm, tubes shorter to nearly equaling funnelform throats, lobes lanceolate, 0.5–1 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 4–5 series oblong-lancoelate (outer) to linear-lanceolate (inner) or linear (innermost), unequal, bases indurate 1/2+, margins scarious, erose, hyaline, ciliolate, green zones lanceolate, apices acute to acuminate or caudate, mucronulate or apiculate, sometimes purplish, faces glabous. |
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Heads | (1–)3–20(–40), in open, diffuse, paniculiform arrays, branches patent. |
{(10–)25–100} in paniculiform arrays, branches ascending (1–10 heads 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 (nerves stramineous), obovoid, ± compressed, 3.5–4 mm, 4–5-nerved, faces strigillose; pappi white, 3–3.6 mm. |
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2n | = 16, 32. |
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Symphyotrichum tenuifolium |
Symphyotrichum tradescantii |
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Phenology | Flowering Jul–Aug(–Sept). | |||||
Habitat | Damp, rocky and gravelly shores, silt- or loam-filled cracks in rocky rapids of streams or along freshwater estuaries | |||||
Elevation | 0–200+ m (0–700+ 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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MA; ME; NH; NJ; NY; RI; VT; NB; NF; NS; QC
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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. 516. | ||||
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Astropolium | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Symphyotrichum > sect. Symphyotrichum | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Aster tenuifolius | Aster tradescantii | ||||
Name authority | (Linnaeus) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 293. (1995) | (Linnaeus) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 293. (1995) | ||||
Web links |