Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center


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

Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains

49. Asteraceae, the Aster Family

2. Aster L. -- Aster

7. Aster praealtus Poir. -- Willowleaf aster

Quite similar to A. hesperius, differing mainly as follows: Stem usually rather uniformly pubescent, less often glabrate or with pubescence in lines decurrent from the leaf bases. Leaves thick-textured and firm, the veinlets on the lower surface dark and forming a conspicuous reticulum with nearly equal-sided areolae. Involucral bracts imbricate in several series, the outer much shorter than the inner, often reddish; rays blue, purple or sometimes whitish. Sep--Oct. Moist to wet meadows, floodplains, stream banks and thickets; occasional in c and e NE; (MA and MI to NE, s to GA, TX and into n Mex.).

In the northern Great Plains the prevalent form of A. praealtus is var. nebraskensis (Britt.) Wieg., with the stems and undersides of leaves rather uniformly pubescent with short, spreading hairs. Entering e NE is var. praealtus with stems glabrate in the lower part to pubescent above in lines decurrent from the leaf bases and with the leaves glabrate to scantily scabrous-puberulent on the underside.

Previous Section -- Aster pauciflorus Nutt. -- Few-flowered aster
Return to Family -- Asteraceae - The Aster Family
Next Section -- Aster pubentior Cronq.

Accessibility FOIA Privacy Policies and Notices

U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/plants/vascplnt/species/apra.htm
Page Contact Information: Webmaster
Page Last Modified: Thursday, 03-Aug-2006 11:46:35 EDT
Menlo Park, CA [caww54]