OF THE CAROLINAS & GEORGIA

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

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Sericocarpus caespitosus   FAMILY Asteraceae   Go to FSUS key



INCLUDED WITHIN PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Sericocarpus asteroides   FAMILY Asteraceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Sericocarpus asteroides (Asteraceae: Astereae), rhizomatous and colonial, and Sericocarpus caespitosus, sp. nov

Sericocarpus caespitosus

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

Sericocarpus asteroides

INCLUDED WITHIN VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 179-47-001:

Aster paternus   FAMILY Asteraceae

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

Sericocarpus asteroides

 

COMMON NAME:
Toothed Whitetop Aster


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

image of Sericocarpus caespitosus, Toothed Whitetop Aster

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913    pnd_seas3_001_lvd

        

image of Sericocarpus caespitosus, Toothed Whitetop Aster

JK Marlow    jkm200525_5198

May    Greenville County    SC

Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area

image of Sericocarpus caespitosus, Toothed Whitetop Aster

JK Marlow    jkm200525_5201

May    Greenville County    SC

Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area

image of Sericocarpus caespitosus, Toothed Whitetop Aster

JK Marlow    jkm220517_7894

May    Greenville County    SC

Chestnut Ridge Heritage Preserve

image of Sericocarpus caespitosus, Toothed Whitetop Aster

JK Marlow    jkm220517_7896

May    Greenville County    SC

Chestnut Ridge Heritage Preserve

image of Sericocarpus caespitosus, Toothed Whitetop Aster

JK Marlow    jkm0506j_16

June    Oconee County    SC

The 1/2" heads are borne in flat-topped clusters, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).

image of Sericocarpus caespitosus, Toothed Whitetop Aster

JK Marlow    jkm0506j_18

June    Oconee County    SC

Leaves elliptic, lower with a petiole & a few teeth, upper smaller & sessile, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).

image of Sericocarpus caespitosus, Toothed Whitetop Aster

JK Marlow    jkm170624_242

June    Oconee County    SC

Sumter National Forest: Andrew Pickens Ranger District

image of Sericocarpus caespitosus, Toothed Whitetop Aster

JK Marlow    jkm210610_1257

June    Greenville County    SC

Blackwell Heritage Preserve

The basal leaves and/or lower stem leaves larger than the upper stem leaves, per Weakley's Flora (2022).

image of Sericocarpus caespitosus, Toothed Whitetop Aster

JK Marlow    jkm210619_1461

June    Greenville County    SC

Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area

Involucres narrowly campanulate to cylindric, upper bracts usually squarrose, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).


click here to see other plants that look similar to this COMPARE involucral bracts of North American asters

image of Sericocarpus caespitosus, Toothed Whitetop Aster

JK Marlow    jkm210619_1466

June    Greenville County    SC

Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area

image of Sericocarpus caespitosus, Toothed Whitetop Aster

JK Marlow    jkm210619_1467

June    Greenville County    SC

Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area

The so-called White-topped Asters have about 5 rays and creamy-white disks, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).

image of Sericocarpus caespitosus, Toothed Whitetop Aster

JK Marlow    jkm210619_1469

June    Greenville County    SC

Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area

Rays broader than those of S. linifolius, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).

image of Sericocarpus caespitosus, Toothed Whitetop Aster

JK Marlow    jkm190702_9587

July    Greenville County    SC

Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area

image of Sericocarpus caespitosus, Toothed Whitetop Aster

JK Marlow    jkm190726_0165

July    Transylvania County    NC

DuPont State Forest

image of Sericocarpus caespitosus, Toothed Whitetop Aster

JK Marlow    jkm200703_6313

July    Greenville County    SC

Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area

Stems generally scabrous-puberulent in the inflorescence, per Manual of Vascular Plants of NE US & Adjacent Canada (Gleason & Cronquist, 1991).

image of Sericocarpus caespitosus, Toothed Whitetop Aster

JK Marlow    jkm200703_6315

July    Greenville County    SC

Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area

image of Sericocarpus caespitosus, Toothed Whitetop Aster

JK Marlow    jkm200703_6318

July    Greenville County    SC

Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area

image of Sericocarpus caespitosus, Toothed Whitetop Aster

JK Marlow    jkm200703_6320

July    Greenville County    SC

Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area

image of Sericocarpus caespitosus, Toothed Whitetop Aster

JK Marlow    jkm190810_0637

August    Greenville County    SC

Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area

 

 

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Sericocarpus caespitosus   FAMILY Asteraceae

INCLUDED WITHIN PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Sericocarpus asteroides   FAMILY Asteraceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Sericocarpus asteroides (Asteraceae: Astereae), rhizomatous and colonial, and Sericocarpus caespitosus, sp. nov
Sericocarpus caespitosus

INCLUDED WITHIN Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 19-20-21
Sericocarpus asteroides

INCLUDED WITHIN VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 179-47-001:
Aster paternus   FAMILY Asteraceae

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

 

Find by SCIENTIFIC NAME:

163

Forb
Perennial

Habitat: Dry woodlands, thin soils around rock outcrops, longleaf pine sandhills, other dry pinelands, woodland margins, per Weakley's Flora

Native to the Carolinas & Georgia

Common (uncommon in GA Coastal Plain) (rare in SC Coastal Plain)

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

LEAVES:
Simple

Leaves basally disposed, the basal leaves (these sometimes withered by flowering season) and/or lower stem leaves larger than upper stem leaves

Alternate & basal rosette

FLOWER:
Spring/Summer
Rays: White
Disc: White
Inferior ovary
Disc flowers bisexual & fertile/ Ray flowers pistillate & fertile

Flower heads in flat corymbs

FRUIT:
Summer?
Achene

 

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



 


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