Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

AZURE ASTER

File Size: 77 KB

Symphyotrichum oolentangiense (Riddell ) G.L. Nesom

[=Aster oolentangiensis Riddell]

Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 8 - 40 inches

Family: Asteraceae - Sunflower Family

Flowering Period: September,October

Also Called:

Sky-blue aster.

Stems:

Erect, glabrous or minutely pubescent to rough-hairy.

Leaves:

Alternate, simple, lanceolate to ovate, 1.2 to 4 inches long, up to 2.8 inches wide; surfaces rough-hairy, sandpaper-like; margins entire or weakly toothed; tips pointed; stalks 1 to 5 inches long, winged; basal leaves with heart-shaped bases; lower stem leaves abruptly contracted to tapering at the base; middle and upper stem leaves smaller, narrower, short-stalked; leaves on head-bearing branches reduced to scale-like sessile bracts.

Inflorescences:

Panicle-like; branches ascending or spreading; heads 20 to 150, mostly near branch tips.

Flowers:

.5 to 1 inch wide; involucral bracts overlapping in 3-5 series, lanceolate, pressed flat, margins fringed, white base, diamond-shaped green tip; ray florets 10-25, ligule blue to bluish-violet, 1/4 to 1/2 inch long; disk florets 15-30, corollas yellow, turning purple with age.

Fruits:

Achenes, tiny, mostly glabrous; pappus white hair-like bristles.

Habitat:

Edges of woods, in open woods and prairies, and along roadsides; dry, sandy or rocky sites.

Distribution:

East third of Kansas.

Comments:

Azure aster is somewhat shrubby.

Azure aster