Symphyotrichum welshii |
Symphyotrichum frondosum |
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Welsh's aster |
alkali aster, leafy annual American-aster, short-ray alkali aster, short-ray aster |
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Habit | Perennials, 30–100 cm colonial; rhizomes shallow and long, often relatively thick (those of the season each producing a distal rosette near the parent plant). | Annuals or sometimes perennials, 5–140 cm. |
Stems | 1–2, ascending to erect (sometimes lax, sometimes reddish), glabrous or sparsely strigoso-villosulous distally (arrays). |
1–6+, decumbent to erect (straight), glabrous. |
Leaves | (adaxially green, abaxially pale green, sometimes glaucous) thin (proximal) to stiff (distal), margins serrulate (proximal) or entire or nearly so, ± revolute, scabrous, apices mucronulate or sometimes callous-pointed, faces glabrous; basal withering by flowering, petiolate (petioles narrowly winged, sheathing), blades oblanceolate to spatulate, 10–40+ × 4–9+ mm, bases attenuate, margins entire, apices obtuse; proximal cauline withering by flowering, sessile or winged-petiolate, blades lanceolate to oblanceolate, 50–150 × 8–11 mm, bases slightly clasping, margins sparsely serrulate, apices acute; distal sessile, blades linear to linear-lanceolate, 50–130 × 4–6 mm, gradually reduced distally, bases ± clasping, apices acute. |
thin, margins entire (basal sometimes serrulate), sometimes ciliate or remotely scabrous, acute to ± obtuse, faces glabrous; basal withering by flowering, petiolate, blades oblanceolate to spatulate, 20–115 × 2–15 mm [cult.], bases attenuate; proximal cauline withering by flowering; cauline subpetiolate or sessile (distal), blades oblanceolate to linear, 10–80 × 1.5–10 mm, reduced distally, bases cuneate. |
Peduncles | 0.5–2 cm, scabro-villosulous, bracts linear, scabro-ciliolate. |
glabrous, bracts linear. |
Involucres | cylindro-campanulate, 4–7 mm. |
narrowly campanulate, 5–9 mm. |
Ray florets | 18–25; corollas pink to white, laminae 9–12 × 0.8–1.5 mm. |
90–110 in 4–5+ series; corollas pink to pinkish white, laminae 1.5–2 × 0.1–0.2 mm (surpassing style branches, barely surpassing disc corollas; tubes ± 3 mm). |
Disc florets | 23–60; corollas pale yellow, 3.8–6.4 mm, tubes shorter than funnelform throats, lobes narrowly triangular, 0.4–0.8 mm. |
± 37; corollas yellow, 4.4–5.2 mm, barely ampliate, tubes much longer than cylindric limbs, lobes lanceolate, ± 0.3 mm. |
Phyllaries | in 3–4 series, lanceolate (outer) to linear (inner), ± unequal, bases indurate, margins hyaline, erose, distally scabro-ciliolate to ciliolate, green zones ± foliaceous (outer) or lanceolate, apices acute to acuminate, sometimes purplish, faces glabrous. |
in 3–4 series, ± spreading, oblong-oblanceolate or -lanceolate to obovate, subequal to ± unequal, linear-lanceolate or linear (innermost), bases scarious, margins narrowly scarious, hyaline, erose, ciliolate, green zones (outer) foliaceous, (inner) lanceolate, apices obtuse to rounded, inner acute, mucronulate, faces glabrous. |
Heads | in open, slender, leafy, paniculiform or racemiform arrays, branches ascending. |
(radiate) in narrow, paniculiform to spiciform arrays, branches often in axils of nearly every leaf, ascending. |
Cypselae | pinkish tan (nerves stramineous), obovoid, ± compressed, 0.8–1.6 mm, 3–5-nerved, faces sparsely strigillose; pappi white, 2.8–5.3 mm. |
tan, obovoid, ± compressed, 2 mm, 2–3-nerved, faces strigillose; pappi white to yellowish, 6.3–7.5 mm. |
2n | = 16. |
= 14. |
Symphyotrichum welshii |
Symphyotrichum frondosum |
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Phenology | Flowering Aug–Oct. | Flowering Aug–Oct. |
Habitat | Wet soils in dry areas, hanging gardens, seeps, wet ledges, stream banks | Moist, usually saline soils, summer-receding shores of lakes or ponds, vernally moist, alkaline bottoms, marshes, often in steppes |
Elevation | 1300–2300 m (4300–7500 ft) | 10–2200 m (0–7200 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; ID; MT; UT; WY |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; BC; Mexico (Baja California)
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Discussion | Of conservation concern. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 20, p. 523. | FNA vol. 20, p. 499. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Aster welshii | Tripolium frondosum, Aster frondosus, Brachyactis frondosa |
Name authority | (Cronquist) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 294. (1995) | (Nuttall) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 282. (1995) |
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