Doellingeria umbellata var. umbellata

Native

Moist. Meadows, clearings, thickets, wood margins.

July to September

White ray florets, pale yellow disk florets

20″ to 78″

This is an erect, 20″ to 78″ tall, perennial forb that rises on a single stem, rarely a few stems, from a creeping rhizome. It sometimes forms colonies.

The stems are erect or ascending and have fine longitudinal lines. They are usually unbranched below the inflorescence. They are rough to the touch due to a sparse to dense covering of minute, curved hairs.

Lower leaves are absent at flowering time. Middle and upper leaves are crowded, alternate, stalkless, broadly to narrowly elliptic or lance-elliptic, 2⅜″ to 4⅓″ long, and ½″ to 1″ wide. They are not stiff. They taper gradually to the stem at the base and taper to a sharp point at the tip. The upper surface hairless or sparsely to moderately covered with short, curly hairs. The lower surface is green and hairless or sparsely covered with long, soft, shaggy hairs. The margins are untoothed, finely hairy, and rolled inward toward the upper side.

The inflorescence is a flat-topped cluster (corymb) of usually 20 to 100 flower heads at the end of the stem.

The individual flower heads are ⅔″ to 1″ wide with usually 5 to 10 white ray florets and 11 to 26 pale yellow disk florets.

The fruit is an achene.

Flat-topped aster (Doellingeria umbellata var. pubens) lower leaf surface is gray or white due to a moderate to dense covering of fine, white, short hairs.