hairy-stemmed panicled aster

(Symphyotrichum lanceolatum var. hirsuticaule)

Conservation Status

 

No image available

 
  IUCN Red List

not listed

     
  NatureServe

NNR - Unranked

SNR - Unranked

     
  Minnesota

not listed

     
           
Wetland Indicator Status
     
  Great Plains

FACW - Facultative wetland

     
  Midwest

FAC - Facultative

     
  Northcentral & Northeast

FACW - Facultative wetland

     
           
 
Description
 
 

Hairy-stemmed panicled aster (var. hirsuticaule) is a 12 to 60 tall, erect, perennial forb that rises on a single stem from a long, slender, branched rhizome. It sometimes forms large, dense colonies.

The stem is erect, straight, stout, and grooved. It is unbranched below the middle. It is green at first, eventually becoming brown and woody near the base. Above the middle it usually has many, sometimes just a few, spreading, ascending branches. It is moderately to densely and uniformly covered with short, woolly hairs, both above and below the middle.

Basal leaves are stalkless. The leaf blades are thin, inversely lance-shaped or inversely egg-shaped, up to 3 long, and up to ¾ wide. They are tapered at the base, and rounded or angled at the tip. There is a short, sharp, abrupt point at the tip. The upper and lower surfaces are hairless. The margins are toothed with rounded, forward-pointing teeth, and have a fringe of hairs. Basal leaves are usually withered at flowering time.

Stem leaves are alternate. Lower stem leaves are stalkless or on short, winged, poorly differentiated leaf stalks (petioles). The petioles are winged and sheath the stem at the base. The leaf blades are linear lance-shaped, 2 to 6 long, and to ¾ wide. They are wedge-shaped or tapered and sometimes slightly expanded at the base, but they do not clasp the stem. They taper to a point at the tip. The upper and lower surfaces are hairless. The margins are untoothed. The leaves become progressively smaller, narrower, and shorter-stalked as they approach the middle of the stem. Upper stem leaves are stalkless and 1¼ to 4 long, not much smaller than the middle stem leaves. Lower stem and sometimes some of the larger middle stem leaves are withered by flowering time.

The inflorescence is a branched cluster (panicle) at the end of the stem. The branches of the panicle are relatively sparse, loosely ascending or spreading, and sometimes solitary or more often clustered near the end of the vegetative branch. The appearance is of a few long branches, with no or just a few lateral branches, and the flower heads rising from these long branches. There are 5 to 200 or more flower heads per plant. The heads are oriented in various directions. The flower heads are on 3 16 to 2 long flower stalks (peduncles). They are not subtended by leaf-like appendages (bracts). The leaves on the flowering branches are often longer than the peduncles, but are much smaller than the upper stem leaves.

The individual flower head is medium-sized, ¾ to 1 in diameter. The whorl of bracts (phyllaries) at the base of the flower head form a cup-shaped, to 3 16 long cup (involucre). The phyllaries are arranged in 3 to 5 appressed to slightly spreading, overlapping series. They do not have a spine-like tip. Phyllaries in the outer series are to as long as those of the inner series. There are 20 to 40 ray florets and 16 to 27 disk florets. The ray florets are in 1 or 2 series. They are ¼ to ½ long and usually white, sometimes pink or pale blue. The disk florets are yellow at first, eventually becoming purple. The flowers are not fragrant.

The fruit is a dry seed capsule (cypsela) with a tuft of bristles (pappus) attached to the end. The cypsela is egg-shaped, gray to tan, and 1 32to 1 16 long. It has 4 or 5 longitudinal ribs. The pappus is white to off-white.

 
     
 

Height

 
 

12 to 60

 
     
 

Flower Color

 
 

White

 
     
 

Similar Species

 
 

Broad-leaved panicled aster (Symphyotrichum lanceolatum var. latifolium) stem is usually hairless below the middle, hairless or hairy only in longitudinal lines above the middle. The middle and upper stem leaves are wider, broadly inversely lance-shaped. The leaf margins are noticeable toothed. The leaves in the inflorescence are about the same size as the upper stem leaves. The inflorescence appears densely leafy. The ray florets are always white.

Common panicled aster (Symphyotrichum lanceolatum var. lanceolatum) stem is usually hairless below the middle, hairless or hairy only in longitudinal lines above the middle.

Inland panicled aster (Symphyotrichum lanceolatum var. interior) stem is usually hairless below the middle, hairless or hairy only in longitudinal lines above the middle. The flower heads are smaller, no more than in diameter, and are closely spaced.

Siskiyou aster (Symphyotrichum lanceolatum ssp. hesperium) heads are usually subtended by large, leaf-like bracts. Phyllaries in the outer series are or more as long as those of the inner series.

 
     
 
Habitat
 
 

Moist. Bottomland forests; margins of streams, lakes and ponds; edges of thickets, meadows, and ditches. Full sun to partial shade.

 
     
 
Ecology
 
 

Flowering

 
 

July to October

 
     
 

Pests and Diseases

 
 

 

 
     
 
Use
 
 

 

 
     
 
Distribution
 
 

Distribution Map

 

Sources

4, 7, 28, 29, 30.

 
  3/6/2023      
         
 

Nativity

 
 

Native

 
         
 

Occurrence

 
 

 

 
         
 
Taxonomy
 
  Kingdom Plantae (green algae and land plants)  
  Subkingdom Viridiplantae (green plants)  
  Infrakingdom Streptophyta (land plants and green algae)  
  Superdivision Embryophyta (land plants)  
  Division Tracheophyta (vascular plants)  
  Subdivision Spermatophytina (seed plants)  
  Class Magnoliopsida (flowering plants)  
  Superorder Asteranae  
 

Order

Asterales (sunflowers, bellflowers, fanflowers, and allies)  
 

Family

Asteraceae (sunflowers, daisies, asters, and allies)  
  Subfamily Asteroideae  
  Supertribe Asterodae  
  Tribe Astereae (asters and allies)  
  Subtribe Symphyotrichinae  
  Genus Symphyotrichum (American asters)  
  Subgenus Symphyotrichum (common American asters)  
  Section Symphyotrichum (bushy, eastern, heart-leaved, and old field asters)  
  Subsection Dumosi (bushy asters)  
  Species Symphyotrichum lanceolatum (panicled aster)  
  Subspecies Symphyotrichum lanceolatum ssp. lanceolatum (common panicled aster)  
       
 

Genus
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.

Variety
This is a variety of a subspecies, and some sources list it as Symphyotrichum lanceolatum ssp. lanceolatum var. hirsuticaule. The ICN (International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants), the rules governing the naming of plant species, makes it clear that this is not correct. Following ICN rules, a taxa “may also be referred to” with the inclusion of the intervening name (in this case, “ssp. lanceolatum”), but that does not constitute a formal name.

 
       
 

Subordinate Taxa

 
 

 

 
       
 

Synonyms

 
 

Aster lanceolatus var. hirsuticaulis

Aster lanceolatus ssp. lanceolatus var. hirsuticaulis

Symphyotrichum lanceolatum ssp. lanceolatum var. hirsuticaule

 
       
 

Common Names

 
 

eastern panicled aster

hairy-stemmed panicled aster

panicled aster

tall white aster

white panicle aster

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Bract

Modified leaf at the base of a flower stalk, flower cluster, or inflorescence.

 

Clasping

Describing a leaf that wholly or partly surrounds the stem but does not fuse at the base.

 

Cypsela

A dry, one-chambered, single-seeded fruit, formed from a single carpel, with the seed attached to the membranous outer layer (wall) only by the seed stalk; the wall, formed from the wall of the inferior ovary and also from other tissues derived from the receptacle or hypanthium, does not split open at maturity, but relies on decay or predation to release the contents.

 

Involucre

A whorl of bracts beneath or surrounding a flower or flower cluster.

 

Linear

Long, straight, and narrow, with more or less parallel sides, like a blade of grass.

 

Panicle

A pyramidal inflorescence with a main stem and branches. Flowers on the lower, longer branches mature earlier than those on the shorter, upper ones.

 

Pappus

The modified calyx composed of awns, scales, bristles, or feather-like hairs in plants of the Asteraceae family.

 

Petiole

On plants: The stalk of a leaf blade or a compound leaf that attaches it to the stem. On ants and wasps: The constricted first one or two segments of the rear part of the body.

 

Phyllary

An individual bract within the involucre of a plant in the Asteraceae family.

 

Rhizome

A horizontal, usually underground stem. It serves as a reproductive structure, producing roots below and shoots above at the nodes.

 

Sheath

The lower part of the leaf that surrounds the stem.

 

Winged leaf stalk

A leaf stalk with a leaf-like or membrane-like extension along both sides.

 
 
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