SMOOTH ASTER
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| File Size: 79 KB |
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Symphyotrichum laeve (L. ) A. Löve
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| [=Aster laevis L.] |
| Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas |
| Perennial |
| Height: 1-3 feet |
| Family: Asteraceae - Sunflower Family |
| Flowering Period: September,October |
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| Also Called: | | Smooth blue aster. | | Stems: | | Erect, slender, simple to branched, glabrous, often waxy, lower stem sometimes reddish. | | Leaves: | | Alternate, simple, clasping, variable in size and shape, lanceolate or broadly ovate to almost linear, to 4 inches long and 3/4 inch wide, thick, firm; margins entire or toothed. | | Inflorescences: | | Open panicles of several to numerous heads; heads to 1 inch wide; bracts overlapping, tips rhombic, green, blunt or pointed. | | Flowers: | | Ray florets 15-25, 1/3 to 2/3 inch long, bluish to pale-purple; disk florets yellow. | | Fruits: | | Achenes, smooth, tipped with reddish bristles, enclosing small seed. | | Habitat: | | Dry open sites. | | Distribution: | | East third of Kansas. | | Uses: | | Native Americans used smoke from burning smooth aster to revive an unconscious person. |
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| Smooth aster leaves |  | | 111 KB | | Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas |
| | Smooth aster inflorescence |  | | 73 KB | | Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas |
| | Smooth aster |  | | 92 KB | | Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas |
| | Smooth aster florets |  | | 45 KB | | Riley County, Kansas |
| | Smooth aster heads |  | | 61 KB | | Riley County, Kansas |
| | Smooth aster leaves |  | | 80 KB | | Riley County, Kansas |
| | Smooth aster |  | | 70 KB | | Riley County, Kansas |
| | Smooth aster |  | | 140 KB | | Atchison County, Kansas |
| | Smooth aster inflorescence |  | | 114 KB | | Atchison County, Kansas |
| | Smooth aster habit |  | | 198 KB | | Atchison County, Kansas |
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