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Jones' aster

eastern showy aster, purple wood-aster, western showy aster

Habit Plants 20–110 cm, eglandular; rhizomes thick, caudices short, stout. Plants 10–90 cm; forming clones and clumps with rosettes, new shoots at end of rhizomes and bases of old stems; rhizomes elongate, scaly, herbaceous becoming woody.
Stems

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

1–3, erect or sometimes ascending, straight, often stout, sometimes glabrous or glabrescent, usually ± sparsely villous proximally and/or distally, proximally eglandular to ± short-stipitate-glandular, distally glandular from 1/2–2/3, short- and long-stipitate-glandular in arrays.

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.

basal and cauline, firm (reticulately veined), margins slightly revolute, indurate, entire or remotely crenulate-serrulate, scabrous, teeth indurate, apices acute (seldom basal obtuse), indurate, faces usually scabrous (especially abaxially), sometimes glabrous;

basal and proximal cauline persistent, petioles (10–90 mm) ± narrowly winged (wings wider and shorter distally), bases sometimes marcescent, blades lanceolate or elliptic to ovate- or obovate-elliptic or spatulate, 10–160 × 3–40 mm (earlier leaves smallest), bases attenuate;

mid widely winged-petiolate to subpetiolate or sessile, blades elliptic-lanceolate, ovate, or ± narrowly obovate to spatulate, oblanceolate, or lanceolate, 13–105 × (2–)5–30 mm, ± gradually reduced distally, bases attenuate or cuneate, sometimes ± clasping or sheathing (proximal);

distal (arrays) sessile, oblong or narrowly ovate to linear-lanceolate or linear, 6–40 × 1–11 mm, usually abruptly reduced, becoming ± glandular.

Peduncles

0.4–1.6 cm, villous;

bracts single or a second midway.

sometimes sparsely villous, densely stipitate-glandular;

bracts (0–)1–3, leaflike or sometimes phyllary-like (bases rounded, membranous, indurate), sometimes immediately subtending heads, densely stipitate-glandular.

Involucres

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

campanulate, 7.5–14(–16) mm, ± equaling pappi.

Ray florets

7–15;

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

15–35;

corollas violet-purple, 12–25 × 1.6–4 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.

25–55;

corollas yellow, 5.5–7.6 mm, ± ampliate, tubes shorter than funnelform throats, lobes erect, lanceolate, 0.7–1.2 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.

35–70 in 5–6 series, oblong-lanceolate to sometimes spatulate (outer) to linear-lanceolate or linear (inner), unequal, membranous or sometimes foliaceous (outer), bases indurate, rounded (outer), green zones expanded, ovate to obovate (outer, sometimes foliaceous to base) or diffusely lanceolate or none (inner), margins of membranous parts hyaline or ± purplish (inner), narrowly scarious, villoso-ciliate or long-stipitate-glandular, of foliaceous parts ± indurate, scabrous or short-stipitate-glandular, apices squarrose (outer) to ± appressed (innermost), acute to obtuse, adaxial faces long-stipitate-glandular (foliaceous parts).

Heads

4–80 in flat-topped, corymbiform arrays.

(1–)3–35+ usually in open, corymbiform arrays, seldom borne singly, branches ascending, stout.

Cypselae

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

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

brown, fusiform, slightly compressed, 3–4.2 mm, ribs 12–14, faces densely strigillose;

pappi of reddish-tawnish bristles 5.3–7.6 mm, ± equaling disc corollas.

2n

= 54.

= 72.

Eurybia jonesiae

Eurybia spectabilis

Phenology Flowering late summer–fall. Flowering fall.
Habitat Rich woods, moist ravines, rocky ridges, wooded slopes near streams, Piedmont in oak-hickory-pine forest region Mostly sandy soils, sometimes dry clay, granite outcrops, dry, oak-pine woods, pine barrens, peat bogs, borders of woods, clearings, fields, roadsides
Elevation 100–400 m (300–1300 ft) 0–900 m (0–3000 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; GA
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; CT; DE; GA; MA; MD; NC; NJ; NY; PA; RI; SC; VA
[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 spectabilis is of conservation concern in much of its range, notably in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. It is an eastern coastal plains species that reaches its southern limit in Alabama and Georgia.

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

Source FNA vol. 20, p. 373. FNA vol. 20, p. 378.
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. radula, E. radulina, E. saxicastelli, E. schreberi, E. sibirica, E. spinulosa, E. surculosa, E. ×herveyi
Synonyms Aster jonesiae Aster spectabilis, Aster commixtus, Aster spectabilis var. suffultus, Biotia commixta, E. commixta
Name authority (Lamboy) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 260. (1995) (Aiton) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 262. (1995)
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