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Jones' aster

arctic aster, arctic wood-aster, subalpine aster

Habit Plants 20–110 cm, eglandular; rhizomes thick, caudices short, stout. Plants (2–)10–50 cm, clonal and clumped, eglandular; rhizomes creeping to ascending, long or short, scaly, woody with age.
Stems

1, erect, simple, straight to slightly flexuous, glabrous or sparsely villosulous proximally, increasingly villosulous distally.

1–3+, usually ascending, sometimes decumbent, purplish, occasionally branched basally, sparsely villosulous, densely so distally.

Leaves

basal and cauline, margins serrate, scabrous, apices usually acute, sometimes acuminate, mucronate, faces scabrous, abaxial sparsely villous to strigose with hirsute veins, adaxial strigose;

basal and proximal long-petiolate (to 120 mm), petioles not winged (or rarely so), hirsute and ciliate, blades widely ovate to ovate or lanceolate, 80–190 × 50–110 mm, bases usually cordate, subcordate, or rounded, sometimes cuneate;

cauline short-petiolate (to 50 mm) to subpetiolate or sessile (arrays), petioles gradually winged distally, blades ovate to lance-ovate, 20–60 × 8–30 mm, reduced distally, bases rounded to cuneate.

cauline (dark green abaxially, paler bluish green adaxially) firm, ± markedly veined, margins entire or serrulate, scabrous to strigoso-ciliate, teeth mucronate, slightly indurate, apices obtuse to acute, mucronate, abaxial faces glabrescent to sparsely villous along veins, adaxial glabrescent or sparsely (proximal) to ± densely (distal) villoso-strigose or strigose;

proximalmost withering by flowering;

proximal narrowly winged-petiolate or sessile, petiole bases sheathing, blades spatulate to obovate or oblanceolate, 10–43 × 2–16 mm, smaller than mid, bases attenuate to cuneate, subclasping (if sessile);

mid sessile, blades lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate to oblanceolate, narrowly obovate, or spatulate, 20–80 × 4–35 mm, gradually reduced distally, bases rounded or subauriculate to widely attenuate or cuneate;

distal (arrays) sessile, lanceolate to lance-ovate or elliptic to oblanceolate, 6–52 × 1–17 mm, rapidly reduced distally, margins often slightly purplish.

Peduncles

0.4–1.6 cm, villous;

bracts single or a second midway.

villosulous;

bracts 0–3, lanceolate to spatulate, leaflike to distally phyllary-like (bases indurate, margins purplish), mostly foliaceous.

Involucres

cylindro-campanulate, 10–13 mm, equaling or longer than pappi.

campanulate, 6–9 mm, shorter than pappi.

Ray florets

7–15;

corollas whitish to cream-colored, becoming purple, 15–20 × 1–2 mm.

(10–)14–32;

corollas purple to violet, 7–12(–15) × 1–1.7 mm.

Disc florets

20–25;

corollas yellow, slightly ampliate, 6.5–8.5 mm, tubes longer than funnelform throats, lobes ± reflexed, lanceolate, 1–1.2 mm.

30–60;

corollas pale to cream-yellow, lobes pink-tinged, 5–7.6 mm, slightly ampliate, tubes equaling or slightly longer than funnelform throats, lobes erect, triangular, 0.6–1.3 mm.

Phyllaries

36–50 in 4–5 series, ovate, elliptic, or lanceolate to linear (outer 3 × 1.5 mm, inner 13 × 0.7 mm), strongly unequal, bases indurate, green zones ± lanceolate to linear along midnerves (inner), 1/4–3/4 width, subapical (rarely outer foliaceous), margins hyaline, erose, ciliate, apices squarrose, acute to long-acuminate (inner hyaline), abaxial faces ± villosulous, adaxial glabrous.

30–65 in 4–5 series, often purplish, oblong or lance-oblong (outer) to lance-linear or linear (inner), unequal, membranous, bases indurate, rounded, dark green zones diffusely diamond-shaped to lanceolate in distal 1/3–2/3 (outer, seldom foliaceous) to 1/5 or none (inner), margins ± dark purple, narrowly scarious, erose, densely villoso-ciliate, apices appressed or sometimes loose and ± squarrose, acute to obtuse, often apiculate, faces usually villous, rarely glabrous.

Heads

4–80 in flat-topped, corymbiform arrays.

(1–)5–50, usually in open to compact, corymbiform arrays, rarely borne singly.

Cypselae

brown, fusiform, ± compressed, 3–4 mm, ribs 7–9, tan, prominent, crowded, faces strigillose;

pappi of cinnamon (sometimes ± clavate) bristles, ± equaling disc corollas.

brownish, fusiform-obconic, slightly compressed, ca. 3.4 mm, ribs 8–10 (pale, strong), strigillose;

pappi of cinnamon to yellowish bristles 5–6 mm, longer than disc corollas.

2n

= 54.

= 36.

Eurybia jonesiae

Eurybia merita

Phenology Flowering late summer–fall. Flowering late summer.
Habitat Rich woods, moist ravines, rocky ridges, wooded slopes near streams, Piedmont in oak-hickory-pine forest region Open, mesic or dry, rocky areas and woods, clearings, burnt areas, creek banks (rocky, sandy, or gravelly), mostly at subalpine level in mountains, lower in north, Douglas fir, lodgepole pine or spruce forests, subalpine meadows
Elevation 100–400 m (300–1300 ft) 100–3200 m (300–10500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; GA
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; ID; MT; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

A number of specimens from Alabama and Georgia identified as Aster commixtus are this species (see also W. F. Lamboy 1988).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Eurybia merita occurs mainly from the Interior Mountains and Plateaus system to the Rocky Mountains, and is disjunct to the Black Hills of South Dakota. It reaches California in Siskyou County; the species has been overlooked in this state (e.g., G. A. Allen 1993) because of misidentification with E. radulina. S. L. Welsh et al. (1987) reported E. sibirica from the Uinta Mountains of Utah (Summit County), which A. Cronquist (1994) attributed to var. merita.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 20, p. 373. FNA vol. 20, p. 370.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Eurybia Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Eurybia
Sibling taxa
E. avita, E. chlorolepis, E. compacta, E. conspicua, E. divaricata, E. eryngiifolia, E. furcata, E. hemispherica, E. integrifolia, E. macrophylla, E. merita, E. mirabilis, E. paludosa, E. radula, E. radulina, E. saxicastelli, E. schreberi, E. sibirica, E. spectabilis, E. spinulosa, E. surculosa, E. ×herveyi
E. avita, E. chlorolepis, E. compacta, E. conspicua, E. divaricata, E. eryngiifolia, E. furcata, E. hemispherica, E. integrifolia, E. jonesiae, E. macrophylla, E. mirabilis, E. paludosa, E. radula, E. radulina, E. saxicastelli, E. schreberi, E. sibirica, E. spectabilis, E. spinulosa, E. surculosa, E. ×herveyi
Synonyms Aster jonesiae Aster meritus, Aster richardsonii var. meritus, Aster sibiricus var. meritus
Name authority (Lamboy) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 260. (1995) (A. Nelson) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 260. (1995)
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