NameThatPlant.net: Symphyotrichum prenanthoides

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

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

Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.

Test-drive A Teaching Key to Asters.

Read more about Crooked-stem Aster at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Symphyotrichum prenanthoides FAMILY Asteraceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 179-47-022:

Aster prenanthoides FAMILY Asteraceae

COMMON NAME:
Zigzag Aster, Crooked-stem Aster

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

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Symphyotrichum prenanthoides FAMILY Asteraceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 179-47-022:
Aster prenanthoides FAMILY Asteraceae

165

Forb
Perennial

Habitat: Moist or wet forests, roadbanks, fields, per Weakley's Flora

Native to North Carolina & Georgia

Common in NC Mountains, rare in GA

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

LEAVES:
Simple
Alternate (basal leaves absent or withered at flowering)

FLOWER:
Summer/Fall
Rays: Blue/ Violet (rarely white)
Disc: Cream or yellow becoming purple or brown
Inferior ovary
Disc flowers bisexual & fertile/ Ray flowers pistillate & fertile

Flower heads in broad, ± flat, corymb-panicle-like arrays, branches spreading to ascending

FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Achene

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

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".