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Symphyotrichum lateriflorum - (image 1 of 4)

Taxonomy

Family: Asteraceae

Habitat

Open woods, fields, and other open to partially shaded habitats.

Associates

Distribution

Nova Scotia to FL, west to MN, eastern SD, eastern KS, and TX.

Morphology

Herbaceous perennial from a caudex or short rhizome; stems 30-120 cm, glabrous or villous; leaves with hairs along the midvein beneath, otherwise glabrous or scabrous above; basal and lower cauline leaves usually soon deciduous; middle and upper cauline leaves more or less sessile, lanceolate, lance-elliptic or subrhombic, tapering from middle to both ends, entire or serrate; leaves of the branches often reduced; heads numerous in a usually widely branched inflorescence; involucre glabrous, 4-5.5 mm; bracts imbricate in few series, obtuse to acute, with a broad green tip, often anthocyanic distally; rays 9-14, white or slightly purplish, 4-6.5 mm; disk corollas goblet-shaped, lobes recurved and comprising 50-75% of the limb.

Notes

Flowers  August to October

Wetland Indicator: FACW

The disk flowers tend to change from yellow to purplish as they age as do the flowers of many other asters.

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

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