Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Campanulids: Asterales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Symphyotrichum retroflexum
FAMILY
Asteraceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Test-drive A Teaching Key to Asters.
Some plants may look similar to S. prenanthoides, but that plant has leaf bases that clasp the stem (vs. not). Read more at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Symphyotrichum retroflexum
FAMILY
Asteraceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Symphyotrichum retroflexum
SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 19-20-21 (2006)
Symphyotrichum retroflexum
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Symphyotrichum retroflexum
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of Vascular Plants of NE US & Adjacent Canada (Gleason & Cronquist,1991)
Aster retroflexus
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 179-47-024:
Aster curtisii FAMILY Asteraceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Aster curtisii
COMMON NAME:
Curtis's Aster, Rigid Whitetop Aster
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
JK Marlow jkm130922_493
September Pickens County SC
Table Rock State Park
13-30 blue to purple rays. Disc florets cream to pale yellow becoming pinkish, per Flora of North America.
)
JK Marlow jkm130922_497b
September Pickens County SC
Table Rock State Park
Readily recognized by the green, leafy, strongly recurved, involucral bracts, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).
COMPARE
involucral bracts of North American asters
)
JK Marlow jkm130922_500
September Pickens County SC
Table Rock State Park
Leaf margins serrulate or entire, per Flora of North America.
)
JK Marlow jkm130922_501
September Pickens County SC
Table Rock State Park
A Southern Appalachian Aster found in only 4 states, one of NC's most showy, per Wild Flowers of NC, 2nd edition (Justice, Bell, & Lindsey, 2005).
)
JK Marlow jkm130922_502b
September Pickens County SC
Table Rock State Park
Phyllaries spreading to squarrose (outer foliaceous), per Flora of North America.
)
JK Marlow jkm140907_359
September Jackson County NC
Blue Ridge Parkway
)
JK Marlow jkm140907_361
September Jackson County NC
Blue Ridge Parkway
)
JK Marlow jkm230927_5610
September Pickens County SC
Laurel Fork Heritage Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm131009_854
October Pickens County SC
Table Rock State Park
)
JK Marlow jkm131009_856
October Pickens County SC
Table Rock State Park
Stem leaves smooth & glabrous on both surfaces (or slightly pubescent beneath), per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm131009_861
October Pickens County SC
Table Rock State Park
)
JK Marlow jkm131009_861b
October Pickens County SC
Table Rock State Park
)
JK Marlow jkm131009_868
October Pickens County SC
Table Rock State Park
)
JK Marlow jkm131009_870
October Pickens County SC
Table Rock State Park
)
JK Marlow jkm131009_885
October Pickens County SC
Table Rock State Park
Bases cuneate, scarcely or not clasping, to slightly rounded and ± clasping, per Flora of North America.
)
JK Marlow jkm131029_068
October Pickens County SC
Table Rock State Park
)
JK Marlow jkm131029_068b
October Pickens County SC
Table Rock State Park
)
JK Marlow jkm131029_080b
October Pickens County SC
Table Rock State Park
)
JK Marlow jkm131029_084
October Pickens County SC
Table Rock State Park
Pappus whitish to reddish, 5.3-6 mm, per Flora of North America.
)
JK Marlow jkm131029_088
October Pickens County SC
Table Rock State Park
)
JK Marlow jkm131029_096
October Pickens County SC
Table Rock State Park
)
JK Marlow jkm131029_138
October Pickens County SC
Table Rock State Park
)
JK Marlow jkm131029_143
October Pickens County SC
Table Rock State Park
)
JK Marlow jkm131029_147
October Pickens County SC
Table Rock State Park
)
JK Marlow jkm151024_543
October Greenville County SC
Blue Wall Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm151024_546
October Greenville County SC
Blue Wall Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm151024_550
October Greenville County SC
Blue Wall Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm201107_8076
November Greenville County SC
Caesars Head State Park
)
JK Marlow jkm201107_8079
November Greenville County SC
Caesars Head State Park
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Symphyotrichum retroflexum
FAMILY
Asteraceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Symphyotrichum retroflexum
FAMILY
Asteraceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Symphyotrichum retroflexum
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 19-20-21
Symphyotrichum retroflexum
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Symphyotrichum retroflexum
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of Vascular Plants of NE US & Adjacent Canada (Gleason & Cronquist,1991)
Aster retroflexus
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 179-47-024:
Aster curtisii
FAMILY
Asteraceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Aster curtisii
152
Forb
Perennial
Habitat: Moist forests, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common in Mountains (rare in Piedmont)
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Simple
Alternate (basal leaves often absent or withered at flowering)
FLOWER:
Summer/Fall
Rays: Blue/ Violet
Disc: Whitish becoming purplish
Flower heads with 13-30 ray flowers
Inferior ovary
Disc flowers bisexual & fertile/ Ray flowers pistillate & fertile
Flower heads in loose many-headed panicles
FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Achene
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Great Smoky Mountains Wildflowers (Campbell, Hutson, Sharp, & Hutson, 1962) p130
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p172
- Wild Flowers of NC, 2nd edition (Justice, Bell, & Lindsey, 2005) p264
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p211
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