Taxonomy
Family: Asteraceae
Habitat
Open woods and edges in dry, sandy or rocky soil.
Associates
Distribution
ME and Quebec to northern FL, west to WI, MO, AR and TX.
Morphology
Perennial from a short caudex, sometimes with creeping rhizomes as well; stems several, slender, 10-50 cm, finely puberulent, becoming tomentose-puberulent upward; leaves numerous, firm, linear, entire, minutely scaberulous, scabrous-ciliate on the margins; nerveless except for a prominent midrib, the lowest ones soon deciduous; heads solitary or several in a mostly corymbiform inflorescence; involucres 6-9 mm; involucral bracts imbricate, firm, keeled, greenish hear the apex, finely scaberulous, acute to broadly rounded, the inner fringed-ciliate distally and usually with purplish margins; rays 10-20, violet, sometimes white, broad, 7-12 mm; disk yellow or purplish; achenes long-hairy; pappus double, the inner bristles elongate, firm, tawny, the about 1 mm or less.
Notes
Flowers September to October
Wetland indicator: UPL
Sometimes grown for its compact habit (in sun) and evergreen foliage. Hardy to USDA Zone 4.
References
Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY
Michael Hough © 2018 |