NameThatPlant.net: Symphyotrichum patens var. patens

OF THE CAROLINAS & GEORGIA

Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Campanulids: Asterales

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Symphyotrichum patens var. patens FAMILY Asteraceae Go to FSUS key

Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.

Test-drive A Teaching Key to Asters.

See herbarium specimens at the Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants.

Read about some of the characters that help distinguish this from S. georgianum and S. phlogifolium at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.

INCLUDED WITHIN PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Symphyotrichum patens var. patens FAMILY Asteraceae

INCLUDED WITHIN Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)

Symphyotrichum patens var. patens

INCLUDED WITHIN Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 19-20-21 (2006)

Symphyotrichum patens var. patens

INCLUDED WITHIN Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)

Symphyotrichum patens var. patens

INCLUDED WITHIN VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 179-47-010:

Aster patens FAMILY Asteraceae

INCLUDED WITHIN Britton & Brown Illus Flora of Northeast US & adjacent Canada (Gleason, 1952)

Aster patens var. patens

INCLUDED WITHIN Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)

Aster patens

INCLUDED WITHIN -

Virgulus patens var. patens

COMMON NAME:
Late Purple Aster, Common Clasping Aster, Late Blue Aster, Skydrop Aster

To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.

image of Symphyotrichum patens var. patens, Late Purple Aster, Common Clasping Aster, Late Blue Aster, Skydrop Aster

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_aspa5_001_lvd

image of Symphyotrichum patens var. patens, Late Purple Aster, Common Clasping Aster, Late Blue Aster, Skydrop Aster

JK Marlow jkm200502_4474

May Greenville County SC

Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area

image of Symphyotrichum patens var. patens, Late Purple Aster, Common Clasping Aster, Late Blue Aster, Skydrop Aster

JK Marlow jkm200502_4479

May Greenville County SC

Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area

Leaves thick, entire, with rounded basal lobes that almost encircle the stem, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).

image of Symphyotrichum patens var. patens, Late Purple Aster, Common Clasping Aster, Late Blue Aster, Skydrop Aster

JK Marlow jkm200502_4480

May Greenville County SC

Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area

Leaf margins ciliate-crenulate to entire, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).

image of Symphyotrichum patens var. patens, Late Purple Aster, Common Clasping Aster, Late Blue Aster, Skydrop Aster

JK Marlow jkm200525_5248

May Greenville County SC

Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area

image of Symphyotrichum patens var. patens, Late Purple Aster, Common Clasping Aster, Late Blue Aster, Skydrop Aster

JK Marlow jkm200525_5286

May Greenville County SC

Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area

image of Symphyotrichum patens var. patens, Late Purple Aster, Common Clasping Aster, Late Blue Aster, Skydrop Aster

JK Marlow jkm210619_1402

June Greenville County SC

Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area

image of Symphyotrichum patens var. patens, Late Purple Aster, Common Clasping Aster, Late Blue Aster, Skydrop Aster

JK Marlow jkm130922_505

September Pickens County SC

Table Rock State Park

image of Symphyotrichum patens var. patens, Late Purple Aster, Common Clasping Aster, Late Blue Aster, Skydrop Aster

JK Marlow jkm131009_879b

October Pickens County SC

Table Rock State Park

Phyllaries in 4-7(8) series, appressed or often slightly recurved-spreading, per Flora of North America.

COMPARE involucral bracts of North American asters

image of Symphyotrichum patens var. patens, Late Purple Aster, Common Clasping Aster, Late Blue Aster, Skydrop Aster

JK Marlow jkm131029_098

October Pickens County SC

Table Rock State Park

image of Symphyotrichum patens var. patens, Late Purple Aster, Common Clasping Aster, Late Blue Aster, Skydrop Aster

JK Marlow jkm131029_101

October Pickens County SC

Table Rock State Park

Achenes covered w short silky hairs; pappus a tuft of hair-like bristles, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).

image of Symphyotrichum patens var. patens, Late Purple Aster, Common Clasping Aster, Late Blue Aster, Skydrop Aster

JK Marlow jkm201002_7531

October Pickens County SC

Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve

image of Symphyotrichum patens var. patens, Late Purple Aster, Common Clasping Aster, Late Blue Aster, Skydrop Aster

JK Marlow jkm231010_5918

October Pickens County SC

Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve

The 1" heads have about 20 blue or violet rays and yellow or reddish disk flowers, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).

image of Symphyotrichum patens var. patens, Late Purple Aster, Common Clasping Aster, Late Blue Aster, Skydrop Aster

Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_s_patens_s

October

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Symphyotrichum patens var. patens FAMILY Asteraceae

INCLUDED WITHIN PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Symphyotrichum patens var. patens FAMILY Asteraceae

INCLUDED WITHIN Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Symphyotrichum patens var. patens

INCLUDED WITHIN Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 19-20-21
Symphyotrichum patens var. patens

INCLUDED WITHIN Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Symphyotrichum patens var. patens

INCLUDED WITHIN VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 179-47-010:
Aster patens FAMILY Asteraceae

INCLUDED WITHIN Britton & Brown Illus Flora of Northeast US & adjacent Canada (Gleason, 1952)
Aster patens var. patens

INCLUDED WITHIN Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Aster patens

INCLUDED WITHIN -
Virgulus patens var. patens

162

Forb
Perennial

Habitat: Dry woodlands, longleaf pine sandhills, roadsides, woodland edges, clearings, roadbanks, per Weakley's Flora

Native to the Carolinas & Georgia

Common (uncommon in Coastal Plain)

map
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.

Click here to see a map showing all occurrences known to SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria. (Zoom in to see more detail.)

LEAVES:
Simple
Alternate (basal leaves absent or withered at flowering)
Margins ciliate-crenulate to entire

FLOWER:
Summer/Fall
Rays: Blue/ Violet (rarely white)
Disc: Yellow, cream or white becoming reddish-purple
Inferior ovary
Disc flowers bisexual & fertile/ Ray flowers pistillate & fertile

Flower heads in panicles

FRUIT:
Fall
Tan
Achene

TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!

"Invasive exotics share several strong traits: fit well within the environment, grow rapidly, mature to produce flowers and seed at an early age, produce great quantities of seed, effectively disperse their seed (via birds, etc.), rampantly spread vegetatively, have no major pest of disease problems. Horticulturally, some of these characteristics are considered quite desirable. Thus there is the absurd irony of various governmental and environmental groups trying hard to control and eradicate in the wild some of the very same species being sold to gardeners all over the US...." — Margie Hunter, Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee

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".

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