Geyer’s aster

not listed

NNR - Unranked

SNR - Unranked

not listed

FACU - Facultative upland

FACU - Facultative upland

FACU - Facultative upland

The stem is smooth and hairless or nearly hairless, reddish, and often covered with a whitish, waxy bloom (glaucous).

Lower stem leaves are on winged petioles. The base of the leaf is never heart-shaped. Middle stem leaves clasp the stem at the base and are less than 5 times as long as wide. Upper stem leaves are stalkless. The upper and lower leaf surfaces are smooth and hairless or nearly hairless. They sometimes have a grayish or bluish tint.

The bracts of the involucre (phyllaries) have a long, green, lance-shaped tip. The flower head has 15 to 30 lavender, light blue, or purple ray florets.

The tuft of feathery hairs at the tip of the achene (pappus) is usually light brown, often reddish.

12″ to 36″

Blue to purple

Smooth blue aster (Symphyotrichum laeve var. laeve) green tips of the phyllaries are diamond-shaped, not lance-shaped.

Dry to moderate moisture. Prairies, woods. Full to partial sun.

August to October

Sources

7.

Native

This and other asters were formerly place in the genus Aster. That genus was problematic, in that it did not include just one common ancestor with all of its lineal descendants and no others – it was not monophyletic. In 1994, the genus Symphyotrichum was resurrected to include most North American asters formerly in the genus Aster.