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Name That Plant!

Odd Aster or Goldenrod

jekeesl (south-central Arkansas)

12 years ago

I found this small plant today in a mostly shaded hardwoods area, and snapped a few photos so I could ID it at home. The plant was about 18 inches tall, had significant branching, and heads that were under 3/8" across. The heads had more ray flowers than disc flowers, and many of the leaves were coarsely toothed.

I first thought it was Brintonia discoidea, but they don't have rays. Considered Oligoneuron album, but that species has longer leaves and too many ray flowers. Checked Solidago bicolor, which seemed close, but the plant photos I found were less branched. Can you determine species from the photos?

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Comments (5)

texasflip
12 years ago
Flipping through the field guide "East Gulf Coastal Plain Wildflowers" I came upon Sericocarpus tortifolius that looks somewhat similar, but I don't think any species range into the West Gulf Coastal Plain.

Here is a link that might be useful: Alabama Plants
Iris GW
12 years ago
I had also considered this might be a Sericocarpus, but I could not find enough information to conclude that.
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Thanks much, Wanto. Going to look at your link now. Indeed, a very fertile area for exploration! Where I'm at, New England aster rules. And that's surely not a bad thing! Plus, there are color phases present within most stands, so you've got the basic blueish-purple, but then there will be deep coral pink and even some more sky blue (Not the aster species of that name) all mixed in together. Really amazing. Throow in the various wild goldenrods,and the frost asters that are usually blooming in that same late summer/fall timeframe, and you've really got something-all without a single human intervention. Of course, where we're purposely establishing prairie plantings-in my case, around stormwater ponds, etc.-we do go with a much more diverse mix. But in truth, I like just what happens around here on its own just as well. Up north at my tree farm there is a slightly different aster mix going on. I'm still working to ID what we've got growing there. At first, I thought smooth aster, then sky blue, but I haven't quite sussed it out yet. Simply put, I need to take my books with me next fall! Thanks again for the nice research idea! +oM
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jekeesl (south-central Arkansas)
Original Author
12 years ago
I started to think this was just a small-flowered example of Symphyotrichum erocoides, but the bracts are a bit too pronounced, the flowers are too small, and the upper leaves are too large. Some of the Sericocarpus species do border Arkansas, but they don't seem to quite fit. I guess it is time to collect and press a specimen for our local Botanists to review. Thanks for the input guys.
jekeesl (south-central Arkansas)
Original Author
12 years ago
This is just for follow-up.

I took almost three hundred photos today, and waded through the results. It appears that the plant in question is a very dry, very eaten up Symphyotrichum lateriflorum (Calico Aster) specimen. That species does have cream-colored flowers of the right size, and also has those diamond-shaped bracts without the spiny tip. The plant in the photos is not very representative of the species, so determining ID was difficult.

I was sure that I'd found something exotic - shucks!
Iris GW
12 years ago
I found this today while out walking, seems to be the same and has the more characteristic look of calico aster.

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