Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

HAIRY ASTER

File Size: 75 KB

Symphyotrichum pilosum (Willd. ) G.L. Nesom

[=Aster pilosus Willd.]

Riley County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 1-5 feet

Family: Asteraceae - Sunflower Family

Flowering Period: September,October

Stems:

Erect, simple below, branching above, stiff-hairy or nearly glabrous.

Leaves:

Lower stem leaves usually absent at flowering, sometimes persist and forming basal rosettes, simple, stalked, oblanceolate to ovate, generally less than 4 inches long and 3/4 inch wide, bristly hairy; upper leaves reduced, alternate, mostly sessile, narrowly linear, stiff; margins entire to slightly toothed; tips with stiff bristles or flexible points.

Inflorescences:

Open, panicle-like clusters; heads numerous, directed to 1 side on spreading lateral branches.

Flowers:

Heads about 1/2 inch wide; bracts overlapping; tips sharp-pointed, green, in-rolled; ray florets 15-35, 1/5 to 2/5 inch long, white or rarely pinkish; disk florets approximately 30-35, corollas yellowish.

Fruits:

Achenes, tiny, pubescent, tipped with numerous white, hair-like bristles, enclosing small seed.

Habitat:

Dry, open, sandy or rocky sites, roadsides, meadows, waste areas, thickets, and open woodlands.

Distribution:

East 1/3 of Kansas.

Comments:

Hairy aster is often found in overgrazed pastures and other disturbed sites.

Hairy aster