Symphyotrichum turbinellum |
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prairie aster, smooth violet prairie aster, turbinate aster |
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Habit | Perennials, 30–100 cm, cespitose; with thick, branched, woody caudices. |
Stems | 1–5+, erect, straight (stout, brittle), glabrous or sparsely hirtellous in lines. |
Leaves | (paler green or bluish green abaxially) firm, margins scabrous, apices mucronate, faces glabrous, abaxial raised midribs scabrous to glabrate; basal withering by flowering, subpetiolate to shortly petiolate (petioles winged, sheathing, coarsely ciliate), blades oblanceolate to oblong-oblanceolate, 45–65 × 5–8 mm, bases cuneate, margins shallowly crenate, strigoso-ciliate, apices acute, obtuse or rounded; proximal cauline withering by flowering, subpetiolate or sessile, blades elliptic-lanceolate to linear-oblanceolate or -lanceolate, 40–120 × 5–20 mm, reduced distally, bases cuneate to slightly attenuate or rounded, slightly clasping, margins serrulate-crenate or entire, apices acute to acuminate; distal sessile, blades oblanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate to linear-lanceolate or linear-oblong, (10–)15–100 × 1–5 mm, gradually reduced distally (more strongly so on branches), bases cuneate or rounded, margins entire, apices acuminate. |
Peduncles | long, thin, (1–)4–10(–25) cm, branches to 10 cm, bracts 8–15, regularly spaced but becoming crowded distally, appressed or ascending, linear-oblong to subulate, 1.5–4 mm, grading into phyllaries, mucronulate. |
Involucres | turbinate to cylindro-campanulate, 7–12 mm. |
Ray florets | 14–20; corollas light blue to lavender or purple, laminae 12–20 × (1–)1.5–2.8 mm. |
Disc florets | 15–20+; corollas yellow turning purple, (4.5–)5–7 mm, tubes slightly shorter than narrowly funnelform throats, lobes triangular, 0.5–1 mm. |
Phyllaries | in 6–9 series, appressed or ± spreading, shortly oblong-lanceolate to subulate (outer) to linear-oblong or linear (inner), strongly unequal, bases indurate 1/2–5/6, abaxially rounded, margins scarious, erose, hyaline, sparsely ciliolate distally, green zones oblanceolate to rhombic-oblanceolate, in distal 1/6–1/2, apices acute (outer) to obtuse or rounded (inner), often callous-mucronulate, faces glabrous. |
Heads | in open, broad, much ramified, paniculiform arrays, branches ascending to arching, thin, brittle, remotely leafy, rarely sessile. |
Cypselae | yellow-tan or light brown to gray, obovoid, ± compressed, (1.8–)2–2.8 mm, 2–4-nerved, faces minutely strigillose; pappi whitish to reddish brown, 4.5–6.4 mm. |
2n | = 96. |
Symphyotrichum turbinellum |
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Phenology | Flowering Aug–Oct. |
Habitat | Open, dry, acidic (chert, sandstone, or granite), rocky or loamy soils, woods and glades on upland slopes and ridges in soils associated with or on leached soils above bluffs, pastures, roadsides |
Elevation | 60–900 m (200–3000 ft) |
Distribution |
AR; IA; IL; KS; LA; MO; NE; OK
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Discussion | Symphyotrichum turbinellum is mostly Ozarkian. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 20, p. 530. |
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Symphyotrichum > sect. Symphyotrichum |
Sibling taxa | |
Synonyms | Aster turbinellus |
Name authority | (Lindley) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 293. (1995) |
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