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Jones' aster

aster rude, low rough aster, rough wood-aster

Habit Plants 20–110 cm, eglandular; rhizomes thick, caudices short, stout. Plants 10–100 cm; in lax clones, eglandular; rhizomes elongate or short, filiform or cordlike, herbaceous, remotely scaly.
Stems

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

1, erect, straight, often reddish, simple, glabrous or glabrescent to sparsely villous proximally, villous 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, rugose-veined, margins ± revolute, ± remotely, ± deeply serrate, scabrous, teeth ± indurate (mucronate), apices mucronulate, abaxial faces scabrous, adaxial ± villous, particularly on veins (increasingly so distally);

proximalmost withering by flowering, winged-petiolate, petioles equaling or longer than blades, bases ± sheathing, sometimes marcescent, blades spatulate to oblanceolate, 10–42 × 3–8 mm, sometimes reduced, smaller than mid, bases attenuate to cuneate, apices obtuse to acute;

mid sessile, lanceolate, oblanceolate, or narrowly obovate to narrowly elliptic or elliptic, (23–)30–115 × 5–36 mm, gradually reduced distally, bases tapering or rounded to ± auriculate-clasping (often narrowed above base), apices acute to acuminate;

distal (arrays) sessile, (6–)10–40 × 2–7 mm.

Peduncles

0.4–1.6 cm, villous;

bracts single or a second midway.

± densely villous;

bracts 0–2, sometimes subtending heads.

Involucres

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

campanulate, 5.5–9 mm, shorter than pappi.

Ray florets

7–15;

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

13–30;

corollas pale blue-violet, 10.5–15 × 1.4–2 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.

37–72;

corollas yellow, 4.5–6 mm, slightly ampliate, 4.8–5.8 mm, tube lengths about twice funnelform throats (2.7–3.4 mm), lobes erect, lanceolate, 0.6–1 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.

30–50 in 4–5 series, oblong or oblong-lanceolate, seldom ovate (outer), lanceolate to linear-lanceolate (inner), strongly unequal, membranous, bases indurate, rounded (outer), green zones full-width, occasionally purplish (inner), in distal 1/2 (outer; rarely 2/3 and foliaceous) to less than 1/6 and paler or none (inner), margins hyaline (seldom purplish), narrowly scarious, ± erose, densely ciliate, apices usually appressed, often squarrose, usually acute, sometimes obtuse, mucronulate, faces glabrous or sparsely strigillose.

Heads

4–80 in flat-topped, corymbiform arrays.

1–25+ in open corymbiform arrays or 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.

tawny to stramineous, fusiform to cylindro-obconic, slightly compressed, 2.7–3.5 mm, ribs 8–18 (stramineous or reddish brown), ± crowded, faces glabrous;

pappi of pale cinnamon bristles 4.5–5.2 mm, shorter than disc corollas.

2n

= 54.

= 18.

Eurybia jonesiae

Eurybia radula

Phenology Flowering late summer–fall. Flowering late summer–early fall.
Habitat Rich woods, moist ravines, rocky ridges, wooded slopes near streams, Piedmont in oak-hickory-pine forest region Fens, sphagnum bogs, lake and creek shores, edges of or openings in wet spruce or tamarack forests, open boggy woods, ± wet meadows, ditches
Elevation 100–400 m (300–1300 ft) 0–600+ m (0–2000+ ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; GA
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CT; DC; DE; KY; MA; MD; ME; NH; NJ; NY; PA; RI; VA; VT; WV; NB; NL; NS; ON; PE; QC; SPM
[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 radula reaches its northwestern limit south of James Bay in northeastern Ontario, where it is rare (J. C. Semple et al. 2002). It is vulnerable in most of its United States range. Aster radula var. strictus (Pursh) A. Gray (for which no combination exists in Eurybia) appears to be a reduced, more slender plant with 1–8 heads (M. L. Fernald 1950) from more northern parts of the range (Newfoundland and Labrador, northern Quebec, northern Nova Scotia), presumably due to harsher conditions; an entire spectrum of intermediates appears to exist with the typical variety to the south, however, and it is unclear whether the variety should be recognized. It seems that the common name, rough aster, stems from a misinterpretation of the Latin epithet radula, which means scraper (rough would be radulans).

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

Source FNA vol. 20, p. 373. FNA vol. 20, p. 371.
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. merita, E. mirabilis, E. paludosa, E. radulina, E. saxicastelli, E. schreberi, E. sibirica, E. spectabilis, E. spinulosa, E. surculosa, E. ×herveyi
Synonyms Aster jonesiae Aster radula, Aster radula var. strictus
Name authority (Lamboy) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 260. (1995) (Aiton) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 261. (1995)
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