Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Narrow-leaf golden-aster

NARROW-LEAF GOLDEN-ASTER

File Size: 149 KB

Heterotheca stenophylla (A. Gray ) Shinners

[=Chrysopsis stenophylla (A. Gray ) Shinners]

[=Chrysopsis villosa (Pursh ) Nutt. ex DC. var. angustifolia (Rydb. ) Cronquist]

Ellsworth County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 8-16 inches

Family: Asteraceae - Sunflower Family

Flowering Period: June, July, August

Stems:

1-50, ascending to erect, simple or branched above, sparsely to densely hispid and strigose, sometimes stipitate-glandular.

Leaves:

Alternate, simple, congested, basal and cauline, basal usually withering early, upper cauline leaves strongly ascending to spreading; petiole present on lower leaves, absent on upper leaves; blade narrowly oblanceolate to narrowly elliptic, .6 to 1.8 inches long, 1/12 to 1/3 inch wide, base wedge-shaped to tapered, margins entire, tip acute, surfaces hispid to strigose, usually eglandular, sometimes sparsely stipitate-glandular.

Inflorescences:

Heads 1-15(-30), radiate, solitary or in corymb-like cymes; peduncles 1/12 to 2/5 inch; leaf-like peduncle bracts often subtending heads; involucres turbinate to hemispheric, 1/5 to 2/5 inch; phyllaries in 4-6 series, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, apex erect, sparsely strigose, glandular viscid.

Flowers:

Ray florets 15-30, pistillate, usually fertile; corolla yellow, ligule 1/8 to 3/5 inch. Disk florets 12-70, bisexual, fertile; corolla yellow, tubular, 1/8 to 2/5 inch, 5-lobed.

Fruits:

Achenes obconic, 1/16 to 1/8 inch, compressed, strigose; pappus in 3-4 series, outer scales 3-40, white, less than 1/50 inch, inner barbellate bristles 25-40, tawny or rusty brown, 1/6 to 1/3 inch.

Habitat:

Rocky, gravelly, or sandy mixed-grass and sand prairies

Distribution:

Principally west 2/3 of Kansas

Origin:

Native

Comments:

Heterotheca, different and case, alluding to the ray achenes being thickened and the disk achenes flattened and stenophylla, narrow and leaf. Two varieties occur in Kansas. Var. angustifolia has leaves pale green, hairs rarely pustulate-based, glands absent or few, and phyllaries usually moderately strigose and eglandular. Var. stenophylla has leaves dark to bright green, hairs often pustulate-based, glands numerous, and phyllaries sparsely strigose and glandular.

Narrow-leaf golden-aster inflorescence