Native & Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas & Georgia

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162

Forb
Perennial

Native to the Carolinas & Georgia

Documented growing wild in GA NC SC

Common

Look for it in dry woodlands, roadsides, woodland edges, clearings, roadbanks, per Weakley's Flora

map
To see a detailed map, click here

 

full sun partial shade ...Variable ...Dry

LEAVES:
Simple
Alternate (basal withered by flowering)

FLOWER:
Summer/Fall
Rays: Blue/ Violet
Disc: Yellow becoming reddish-purple
Disc flowers bisexual & fertile/ Ray flowers pistillate & fertile
Inferior ovary
Flower heads in panicles

FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Tan
Achene

 

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



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

WEAKLEY'S FLORA (11/30/12):
 Symphyotrichum patens var. patens   FAMILY Asteraceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
 Symphyotrichum patens var. patens   FAMILY Asteraceae

LESS THAN VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (1968) 179-47-010:
 Aster patens   FAMILY Asteraceae

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

 

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

Click or hover over the thumbnails to see larger pictures.

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    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    jkm130922_507

September    Pickens County    SC

Table Rock State Park

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

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

JK Marlow    jkm180903_4501

September    Greenville County    SC

Leaf margins ciliate-crenulate to entire, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas.

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

JK Marlow    jkm061029_003

October    Oconee County    SC

Roadside

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.

click here to see other plants that look similar to this 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.

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        

The 1" heads have ~ 20 blue or violet rays & yellow or reddish disk flowers, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains.