Azure aster

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Azure aster habit

Azure aster leaves

Azure aster florets

Azure aster

Azure aster bracts

Azure aster

Azure aster

Azure aster

Azure aster leaves

azure aster

Morphology

Stem

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.

Inflorescence

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

Flower

.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.

Fruit

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

Ecology

Habitat

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

Distribution

East third of Kansas.

Additional Notes

Synonyms

Alternative scientific names that have been used for this plant.