Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

WILLOWLEAF ASTER

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Symphyotrichum praealtum (Poir. ) G.L. Nesom

[=Aster praealtus Poir.]

Johnson County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 20-60 inches

Family: Asteraceae - Sunflower Family

Flowering Period: September,October

Also Called:

Tall aster.

Stems:

Erect to ascending, solitary, stout, nearly glabrous to pubescent, somewhat waxy or reddish, branching above.

Leaves:

Alternate, thick, firm, sessile; lower leaves falling by flowering; stem leaves linear-lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, 1.6 to 6 inches long, to 3/5 inch wide; upper surface smooth to rough; lower surface mostly smooth, veins in prominent network of spaces of nearly equal dimensions; margins entire to weakly toothed, often rolled under; tips pointed; progressively reduced upward; upper stem leaves with axillary leaf clusters.

Inflorescences:

Panicle-like clusters, open, leafy; branches ascending to spreading; heads numerous, 60-100+.

Flowers:

Heads 3/5 to 1 inch in diameter; involucre bell-shaped, to 1/3 inch tall; bracts unequal, overlapping in several series, tips often reddish-purple; ray florets 6-35, to 1/2 inch long, bluish or lavender, rarely white; disk florets 20-35, light yellow turning pinkish purple.

Fruits:

Achenes, egg-shaped, less than 1/12 inch long, pubescent, brownish or purplish, tipped by numerous white hair-like bristles, enclosing small seed.

Habitat:

Wet low ground, moist meadows, prairie swales, stream and pond edges, open thickets, and roadsides; loamy soil.

Distribution:

East 1/3 of Kansas.

Uses:

The Navajo used a cold infusion of the plant to treat stomacheaches and internal injuries and smoked the dried leaves to bring luck hunting.

Comments:

An important source of nectar for migrating Monarch butterflies.

Willowleaf aster inflorescence