|  back  | forward |

Symphyotrichum dumosum - (image 1 of 5)

Taxonomy

Family: Asteraceae

Habitat

Dry or moist, often sandy places.

Associates

Distribution

Southern ME to FL, west to MI, AR, and LA. Most common on or near the Atlantic coastal plain.

Morphology

Herbaceous perennial; stems 30-100 cm; leaves linear to lance-linear or linear-elliptic, sessile, more or less entire, often scabrous above and glabrous beneath, chiefly cauline, leaves of the branches much reduced; inflorescence open, often diffuse; head usually numerous, long-pedunculate, the peduncles with numerous spreading or ascending, oblong or spatulate bracts and some of them 2 cm up to 15 cm; involucre glabrous, its bracts strongly imbricate, obtuse or dilated near the short broad green tip; rays 13-30, pale bluish or lavender, sometimes white, 5-9 mm; lobes of the disk corollas comprising 20-35% of the limb.

Notes

Flowers  August to October

Wetland Indicator: NA

The long peduncles with numerous bracts help distinguish this species from other similar small-flowered white(ish) asters. Symphyotrichum racemosum is similar but has smaller heads produced in greater numbers that tend to turn upwards.

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

Home