Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center


Home	About NPWRC	Our Science	Staff	Employment	Contacts	Common Questions	About the Site

Northeast Wetland Flora

Field Office Guide to Plant Species

Swamp Aster
Aster puniceus L.

JPG -- Species Photo JPG -- Distribution Map

Family: Composite (Compositae)
Flowering: August-November
Field Marks: The distinguishing features of this aster are its usually purple stems, its clasping leaves, and its blue-rayed flower heads 1/3-1/2 inch high.
Habitat: Swamps, rich woods, wet open areas.
Habit: Perennial herb from a stout rhizome.
Stems: Upright, branched or unbranched, stout, hairy or less commonly smooth, up to 8 feet tall.
Leaves: Alternate, simple, lanceolate to elliptic, pointed at the tip, tapering to a clasping base, toothed or sometimes without teeth, rough or smooth on the upper surface, hairy or smooth on the midvein below, up to 8 inches long, up to 2 inches long.
Flowers: Many crowded into heads, with several heads in an open, leafy panicle, the heads 1/3-1/2 inch high, subtended by narrow, loose bracts, some of the flowers forming blue rays, others forming a central yellow disk; ray flowers 20-60, 1/3-1 inch long; disk flowers 35-50, tubular.
Sepals: 0.
Petals: Some united to form flat blue rays, others united to form tubular disk flowers.
Stamens: 5.
Pistils: Ovary inferior, smooth.
Fruits: Achenes ellipsoid, smooth, about 1/8 inch long, subtended by white hairs.
Notes: Asteraceae is the name used for this family by Gleason and Cronquist. This species is also called purple-stemmed aster.

Previous Species -- Crooked-stem Aster (Aster prenanthoides)
Return to Species List -- Group 8
Next Species -- Annual Saltmarsh Aster (Aster subulatus)

Accessibility FOIA Privacy Policies and Notices

U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/plants/florane/species/8/astepuni.htm
Page Contact Information: Webmaster
Page Last Modified: Saturday, 02-Feb-2013 06:17:14 EST
Sioux Falls, SD [sdww54]