2.
Aster tataricus
Linnaeus f., Suppl. Pl. 373. 1782.
Tatarian aster
Aster rhomboideus
Lindley ex de Candolle;
Linosyris
tatarica
(Lessing) C. A. Meyer
Plants
50—150(—300) cm, densely colonial; rhizomes fleshy, ± woody with age, with abundant fibrous roots.
Stems
1—3+, erect, sparsely to densely (distally) strigillose.
Leaves
basal and cauline, very coarse, margins scabrous, apices mucronate, faces scabrous; basal usually deciduous by flowering; proximal cauline persistent, long-petiolate (petioles ± winged, bases sheathing), blades strongly 1-nerved, oblanceolate, 300—500 × (50—)60—120 mm, bases attenuate, margins undulate, recurved, coarsely serrate, teeth mucronate, apices acuminate, acute, or rounded; mid and distal subpetiolate to sessile, blades oblanceolate to lanceolate, 40—180 × 10—50 mm, bases attenuate to cuneate, sheathing, margins serrate or entire, apices acute to acuminate; distal (arrays) abruptly reduced, lanceolate, 5—10 mm, apices acute to acuminate.
Heads
14—50+ in corymbiform arrays, branches ascending.
Involucres
campanulate, (6.5—)7—10(—12) mm.
Phyllaries
in 3—4 series, ovate to lanceolate (outer) or linear-lanceolate to linear (inner), green to base along midnerves or outer sometimes largely foliaceous, apices acute (outer) to long-acuminate (inner), abaxial faces glabrous or sparsely strigillose.
Rays
14—30; laminae pale lavender or purple, 10—15 × 1.5—2.5 mm.
Disc florets
(20—)25—30(—50); corollas light yellow turning lavender at least in lobes, (4.5—)5—6 mm, tubes about as long as campanulate throats.
Cypselae
light brown, linear-obconic, slightly compressed or plump, 1.5—2 mm, nerves 4—5(—6), faces glabrate to thinly strigillose;
pappi
white or cream-colored, 6—8 mm, shorter than disc corollas.
2
n
= 54.
Flowering fall. Fields, open roadsides; 0—1000 m; introduced; Ala., Conn., Del., Ga., Ill., Iowa, Ky., Mass., Mich., N.J., N.C., Ohio, Pa., R.I ., Tenn., W.Va.; Eurasia (native to s Siberia).
Aster tataricus
has been reported from Maryland, Missouri, and Virginia; I have not seen supporting specimens.
Cultivars of Tatarian aster are grown in North America (J. C. Semple et al. 2002), where they sometimes escape from cultivation.
