Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Campanulids: Asterales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Symphyotrichum patens var. patens
FAMILY
Asteraceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Test-drive A Teaching Key to Asters.
See herbarium specimens at the Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants.
Read about some of the characters that help distinguish this from S. georgianum and S. phlogifolium at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
INCLUDED WITHIN
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Symphyotrichum patens var. patens
FAMILY
Asteraceae
INCLUDED WITHIN Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Symphyotrichum patens var. patens
INCLUDED WITHIN Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 19-20-21 (2006)
Symphyotrichum patens var. patens
INCLUDED WITHIN Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Symphyotrichum patens var. patens
INCLUDED WITHIN VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 179-47-010:
Aster patens FAMILY Asteraceae
INCLUDED WITHIN Britton & Brown Illus Flora of Northeast US & adjacent Canada (Gleason, 1952)
Aster patens var. patens
INCLUDED WITHIN Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Aster patens
INCLUDED WITHIN -
Virgulus patens var. patens
COMMON NAME:
Late Purple Aster, Common Clasping Aster, Late Blue Aster, Skydrop Aster
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
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USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_aspa5_001_lvd
)
JK Marlow jkm200502_4474
May Greenville County SC
Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area
)
JK Marlow jkm200502_4479
May Greenville County SC
Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area
Leaves thick, entire, with rounded basal lobes that almost encircle the stem, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).
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JK Marlow jkm200502_4480
May Greenville County SC
Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area
Leaf margins ciliate-crenulate to entire, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm200525_5248
May Greenville County SC
Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area
)
JK Marlow jkm200525_5286
May Greenville County SC
Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area
)
JK Marlow jkm210619_1402
June Greenville County SC
Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area
)
JK Marlow jkm130922_505
September Pickens County SC
Table Rock State Park
)
JK Marlow jkm131009_879b
October Pickens County SC
Table Rock State Park
Phyllaries in 4-7(8) series, appressed or often slightly recurved-spreading, per Flora of North America.
COMPARE
involucral bracts of North American asters
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JK Marlow jkm131029_098
October Pickens County SC
Table Rock State Park
)
JK Marlow jkm131029_101
October Pickens County SC
Table Rock State Park
Achenes covered w short silky hairs; pappus a tuft of hair-like bristles, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).
)
JK Marlow jkm201002_7531
October Pickens County SC
Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm231010_5918
October Pickens County SC
Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve
The 1" heads have about 20 blue or violet rays and yellow or reddish disk flowers, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_s_patens_s
October
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Symphyotrichum patens var. patens
FAMILY
Asteraceae
INCLUDED WITHIN
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Symphyotrichum patens var. patens
FAMILY
Asteraceae
INCLUDED WITHIN
Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Symphyotrichum patens var. patens
INCLUDED WITHIN
Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 19-20-21
Symphyotrichum patens var. patens
INCLUDED WITHIN
Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Symphyotrichum patens var. patens
INCLUDED WITHIN
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 179-47-010:
Aster patens
FAMILY
Asteraceae
INCLUDED WITHIN
Britton & Brown Illus Flora of Northeast US & adjacent Canada (Gleason, 1952)
Aster patens var. patens
INCLUDED WITHIN
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Aster patens
INCLUDED WITHIN
-
Virgulus patens var. patens
162
Forb
Perennial
Habitat: Dry woodlands, longleaf pine sandhills, roadsides, woodland edges, clearings, roadbanks, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common (uncommon in Coastal Plain)
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
Click here to see a map showing all occurrences known to SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria. (Zoom in to see more detail.)
LEAVES:
Simple
Alternate (basal leaves absent or withered at flowering)
Margins ciliate-crenulate to entire
FLOWER:
Summer/Fall
Rays: Blue/ Violet
(rarely white)
Disc: Yellow, cream or white becoming reddish-purple
Inferior ovary
Disc flowers bisexual & fertile/ Ray flowers pistillate & fertile
Flower heads in panicles
FRUIT:
Fall
Tan
Achene
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Forest Plants of the Southeast and Their Wildlife Uses (Miller & Miller, 2005) p016
- Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee (Hunter, 2002) p109
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p276
- Newcomb's Wildflower Guide (Newcomb, 1977) p460
- Field Guide to the Rare Plants of Georgia (Chafin, 2007) p389
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019) p436
- Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999) p114
- Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Georgia (Chafin, 2016) p122
- Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005) p277
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005) p326
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p210
- Wildflowers of the Sandhills Region (Sorrie, 2011) p148
If a search such as "Carex leptalea var. leptalea" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "Carex leptalea".
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