Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains
49. Asteraceae, the Aster Family
2. Aster L. -- Aster2. Aster hesperius A. Gray -- Marsh aster
Erect or leaning perennial 3-12 dm tall, colonial from stout rhizomes mostly 2-6 mm thick, usually branched above; stems glabrous below, pubescent above in lines decurrent from the leaf bases. Leaves linear to linear-lanceolate, 3-15 cm long, 3-25 mm wide, acuminate, entire to shallowly toothed, smooth to scabrous on the margin, often slightly clasping the stem. Heads usually numerous, often crowded in a leafy panicle-like inflorescence, mostly 1.5-2.5 cm across; involucre 5-7.5 mm high, the bracts mostly not strongly imbricate in flowering heads, the outer bracts usually at least 2/3 as long as the inner ones in mature heads, sometimes to 1 mm or more wide, ciliolate on the margins; rays 20-50, white to pink or light blue, mostly 6-14 mm long; lobes of the disk corollas comprising 19-36% of the limb. Aug--Sep. Wet meadows, ditches, shores, stream banks, springs, seepage areas and other wet places; common and often rather weedy; (WI to Alta., s to MO, KS, NM and CA). A. coerulescens DC.
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