Page authors: Don Knoke, David Giblin
Symphyotrichum frondosum
alkali aster, short rayed aster, short-rayed alkali aster
Specimens
Photos

Distribution: British Columbia to California, esat to Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico.

Habitat: Moist, usually saline soil, often along the shores of lakes and ponds, or in vernally moist, alkaline bottoms.

Flowers: August-October

Origin: Native

Growth Duration: Annual, Perennial

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Bees, flies, butterflies

Description:
General:

Glabrous, branching annual, the stem 0.5-14 dm. tall.

Leaves:

Leaves alternate, linear and sessile to oblanceolate and short-petiolate, the blade up to 6 cm. long and 1 cm. wide.

Flowers:

Heads several in a paniculate inflorescence; involucre 5-9 mm. high, its bracts herbaceous, somewhat imbricate; pistillate ray flowers more numerous than the disk flowers, the rays pinkish, about 2 mm. long, erect and narrow, longer than the style, barely surpassing the disk flowers; capillary pappus soft and copious, longer than the disk flowers.

Fruits:

Achene

Accepted Name:
Symphyotrichum frondosum (Nutt.) G.L. Nesom
Publication: Phytologia. 77: 282. 1995.

Synonyms & Misapplications:
Aster frondosus (Nutt.) Torr. & A. Gray [HC]
Brachyactis frondosa (Nutt.) A. Gray
Additional Resources:

PNW Herbaria: Specimen records of Symphyotrichum frondosum in the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria database.

WA Flora Checklist: Symphyotrichum frondosum checklist entry.

OregonFlora: Symphyotrichum frondosum information.

E-Flora BC: Symphyotrichum frondosum atlas page.

CalPhotos: Symphyotrichum frondosum photos.

USDA Plants: Symphyotrichum frondosum information.

18 photographs:
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