Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Campanulids: Asterales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Symphyotrichum lateriflorum
FAMILY
Asteraceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Test-drive A Teaching Key to Asters.
Only a few of the "small white asters" inhabit floodplains and bottomlands, and Calico Aster is one of them. Read more at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
INCLUDING
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Symphyotrichum lateriflorum var. lateriflorum
FAMILY
Asteraceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Symphyotrichum lateriflorum
SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 19-20-21 (2006)
Symphyotrichum lateriflorum
INCLUDING Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Symphyotrichum lateriflorum var. angustifolium
INCLUDING Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Symphyotrichum lateriflorum var. horizontale
INCLUDING Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Symphyotrichum lateriflorum var. lateriflorum
SYNONYMOUS WITH Aquatic & Wetland Plants of Southeastern US (Godfrey & Wooten, 1979 & 1981)
Aster lateriflorus
INCLUDED WITHIN VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 179-47-035:
Aster lateriflorus FAMILY Asteraceae
COMMON NAME:
Calico Aster, Starved Aster, Goblet Aster
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_ashi4_001_lvd
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_asla6_001_lvd
)
JK Marlow jkm100730_206
July Jackson County NC
Balsam Mountain Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm220722_9251
July Greenville County SC
Bald Rock Heritage Preserve
Long and often horizontally spreading branches with flowering heads near or at the ends, per Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
)
JK Marlow jkm120930_179
September Greenville County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm120930_179b
September Greenville County SC
Less than 15 white rays (occasionally w a lavender tinge). Disk purplish-red, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).
COMPARE
small white asters
)
JK Marlow jkm120930_184
September Greenville County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm141025_330
October Greenville County SC
Swamp Rabbit Trail
Leaves thin, membranous, margins serrate to serrulate,...
)
JK Marlow jkm141025_334
October Greenville County SC
Swamp Rabbit Trail
...progressively reduced distally, branch leaves abruptly smaller, margins sometimes entire, per Flora of North America.
)
JK Marlow jkm141025_336
October Greenville County SC
Swamp Rabbit Trail
)
JK Marlow jkm141025_337
October Greenville County SC
Swamp Rabbit Trail
New vernal rosettes often developing at flowering, per Flora of North America.
)
JK Marlow jkm181028_5375
October McCormick County SC
Parks Mill
Involucres turbinate; bracts whitish with green midrib, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
COMPARE
involucral bracts of North American asters
)
JK Marlow jkm201016_7780
October Greenville County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm221004_0218
October Greenville County SC
Bald Rock Heritage Preserve
Disc corollas white to cream turning pink to purplish, lobes strongly reflexed, per Weakley's Flora (2022).
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Symphyotrichum lateriflorum
FAMILY
Asteraceae
INCLUDING
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Symphyotrichum lateriflorum var. lateriflorum
FAMILY
Asteraceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Symphyotrichum lateriflorum
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 19-20-21
Symphyotrichum lateriflorum
INCLUDING
Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Symphyotrichum lateriflorum var. angustifolium
INCLUDING
Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Symphyotrichum lateriflorum var. horizontale
INCLUDING
Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Symphyotrichum lateriflorum var. lateriflorum
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Aquatic & Wetland Plants of Southeastern US (Godfrey & Wooten, 1979 & 1981)
Aster lateriflorus
INCLUDED WITHIN
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 179-47-035:
Aster lateriflorus
FAMILY
Asteraceae
157
Forb
Perennial
Habitat: Mesic to dry upland forests and woodlands, swamps, wet pine flatwoods, clearings, old fields, roadsides, other disturbed areas, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common (uncommon in GA Coastal Plain)
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Simple
Alternate (basal leaves usually absent or withered at flowering, but new rosettes often present)
RHIZOMES? STOLONS?
Cespitose [growing in dense tufts, clumping], with short rhizomes or short branched caudices
FLOWER:
Summer/Fall
Rays: White
Disc: Whitish-cream becoming pink to purplish
Flower heads with 8-15(20) ray flowers
Inferior ovary
Disc flowers bisexual & fertile/ Ray flowers pistillate & fertile
Flower heads in loose leafy panicles
FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Brown
Achene
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee (Hunter, 2002) p108
- Newcomb's Wildflower Guide (Newcomb, 1977) p456
- Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999) p114
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005) p327
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p213
- Wildflowers of the Sandhills Region (Sorrie, 2011) p235
If a search such as "Carex leptalea var. leptalea" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "Carex leptalea".
Or, to minimize chances of a misspelling, try just "Carex le".
Less is more: If "pencil flower" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "pencil".