Symphyotrichum novae-angliae
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Template:Strong (formerly Aster novae-angliae) is a species of flowering plant in the aster family (Asteraceae) native to central and eastern North America. Commonly known as Template:Strong,Template:Sfnp Template:Strong,Template:Sfnp or Template:Strong,Template:Sfnp it is a perennial, herbaceous plant usually between Template:Convert tall and Template:Convert wide.
The usually deep purple flowers have up to 100 ray florets which are rarely pink or white. These surround the flower centers which are composed of just as many tiny yellow disk florets. The plant grows naturally in clumps, with several erect stems emerging from a single point. The stems are stout, hairy, and mostly unbranched. The untoothed, lance-shaped leaves clasp the stem with earlobe-like appendages, and the lower stem leaves often wither by the time of flowering.
New England aster generally grows in wet environments but also has been found in dry soil or sand. The seeds and nectar of this mostly conservationally secure species, which blooms August to November, are important to a wide variety of animals, including birds, bees, and butterflies. It has been introduced to Europe, Central Asia, Hispaniola, New Zealand, and some western states and provinces of North America.
The naturally occurring hybrid species of New England aster and white heath aster (Symphyotrichum ericoides) is named Symphyotrichum × amethystinum and is commonly known as amethyst aster. It can grow where the two parents are in close proximity. There are roughly 50 cultivars of Symphyotrichum novae-angliae available, including the award-winners 'Brunswick', 'Helen Picton', and 'James Ritchie'. It has been used by indigenous Americans, such as the Cherokee, Iroquois, and Potawatomi, to heal multiple ailments.
Description
New England aster is a clump-forming perennial and herbaceous plant. Usually it is between Template:Convert tallTemplate:Sfnp and Template:Convert wide.Template:Sfnp Sometimes it can reach heights of Template:Convert.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp It is cespitose, growing in clumps with several erect stems emerging from a single point. The stems are stout and mostly unbranched. The upper stems and leaves, along with some parts of the flower heads, are covered with tiny glands on tiny stalks called "stipitate glands".Template:Sfnp
Roots, stems, and leaves
The roots either come from caudices or short rhizomes and are thick, appearing woody, sometimes with cormoid portions. There are usually from one to five strong, erect, hairy stems growing from the root base. These can be brown or purplish in color, and largely stipitate-glandular higher up.Template:Sfnp
Symphyotrichum novae-angliae has light to dark green, thin, and often stiffTemplate:Sfnp alternate and simple leaves.Template:Sfnp These occur at the base, on stems, and on the flower head branches which all have generally the same lanceolate appearance regardless of their location on the plant.Template:Sfnp The exception to this is the basal (ground level) leaves, which are usually spatulate or sometimes oblanceolate in shape. The lower stem leaves often wither or drop by the time the plant flowers.Template:Sfnp
The leaf margins are sometimes entire, meaning they are smooth on the edges with no teeth or lobes,Template:Sfnp or ciliate, meaning fringed with fine hairs on their edges.Template:Sfnp They are sessile, having no leafstalk, and they are auriculate, clasping the stem with earlobe-like appendages.Template:Sfnp
The leaves can vary in size, with the basal and distal (highest) leaves usually smaller than those occurring mid-stem. The basal leaves are sparsely hirsute and range Template:Nowrap in length and Template:Nowrap in width. Stem leaves are generally lanceolate or oblong with pointed tips and have stipitate glands on both sides. They average Template:Nowrap in length by Template:Nowrap wide. The distal leaves are oblanceolate, also stipitate-glandular, and softly-pubescent. Distal leaves range Template:Nowrap in length by Template:Nowrap wide.Template:Sfnp
Flowers
Symphyotrichum novae-angliae is a late-summer and fall blooming perennial with flower heads opening as early as August in some locations and as late as November in others. The inflorescences grow in paniculo-corymbiform arrays, also called "cymose corymbs". These inflorescences have many leaves and are quite crowded,Template:Sfnp typically with one head at the end of each small branch.Template:Sfnp Each open flower head can be up to Template:Nowrap (Template:Nowrap) in diameter.Template:Sfnp
Involucres and phyllaries
On the outside the flower heads of all members of the family Asteraceae are small specialized leaves called "phyllaries", and together they form the involucre that protects the individual flowers in the head before they open.Template:Sfnp The involucres of S. novae-angliae are campanulate (bell-shaped) to hemispheric (half-spherical) and usually Template:Nowrap, with low and high involucral measurements of Template:Nowrap and Template:Nowrap, respectively. The phyllaries are spreading and often reflexed and are covered with stipitate glands. They are in Template:Nowrap (sometimes up to 6) somewhat equal rows.Template:Sfnp
Florets
Each flower head is made up of ray florets and disk florets in about a one to one ratio, with the former accepting pollen before, and longer than, the latter.Template:Sfnp The Template:Nowrap ray florets grow in one, two, or multiple series and are usually deep purple, rarely pink or white. They average Template:Nowrap in length and Template:Nowrap wide.Template:Sfnp Ray florets in the Symphyotrichum genus are exclusively female, each having a pistil (with style, stigma, and ovary) but no stamen; thus, ray florets accept pollen and each can develop a seed, but they produce no pollen.Template:Sfnp
The disks have Template:Nowrap florets that start out as yellow and later turn purple. Each disk floret has an average range of Template:Nowrap in depth, with low and high measurements of Template:Nowrap and Template:Nowrap, respectively.Template:Sfnp The disk floret is made up of 5 fused petals, collectively called a "corolla", which opens into 5 lobes.Template:Efn Disk florets in the Symphyotrichum genus are androgynous, each with both male (stamen, anthers, and filaments) and female reproductive parts; thus, a disk floret produces pollen and can develop a seed.Template:Sfnp {{#invoke:Gallery|gallery}}
Fruit
The fruits of Symphyotrichum novae-angliae are seeds, not true achenes but cypselae, resembling an achene but surrounded by a calyx sheath. This is true for all members of the Asteraceae family.Template:Sfnp After pollination, they become dull purple or brown with an oblong or obconic shape, are uncompressed, and are Template:Nowrap long and Template:Nowrap wide with 7–10 nerves. They also have tufts of hairs called "pappi" which are tawny or rose-tinged in color and Template:Nowrap long.Template:Sfnp
Chromosomes
S. novae-angliae has a monoploid number (also called "base number") of five chromosomes Template:Nowrap The species is diploid with a total chromosome count of 10.Template:Sfnp
Taxonomy
History and classification
The species' basionym (original scientific name) is Template:Nowrap and it has many taxonomic synonyms. Its name with author citations is Symphyotrichum novae-angliae Template:Small.Template:Sfnp Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, in 1753, formally described what we know today as S. novae-angliae.Template:Sfnp It is a member of the genus Symphyotrichum classified in the subgenus Virgulus. It has been placed in section Grandiflori,Template:Sfnp sometimes segregated then within its own subsection Polyligulae.Template:Sfnp It also has been segregated within its own section Polyliguli.Template:Sfnp The cladogram shown follows the circumscription of section Polyliguli for the species.
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Several varieties and forms have been described, differing in flower color, but these generally are not recognized and are considered taxonomic synonyms of the species.Template:SfnpTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp F1 hybridization with S. ericoides can occur where the ranges of these two species overlap. Named Symphyotrichum × amethystinum (amethyst aster),Template:Sfnp the hybrid is intermediate between the parent species in most respects. No other hybrids with S. novae-angliae have been reported.Template:Sfnp
Etymology
The genus name, Symphyotrichum, is a Botanical Latin construction derived from the Greek {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (sumphúō) meaning to make or bring together and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (thrĭ́x) hair.Template:Sfnp The species name, novae-angliae, refers to New England.Template:Sfnp The vernacular name "Michaelmas daisy" derives from the various asters, including this species, that tend to flower around September 29, the Feast of St. Michael.Template:Sfnp
The species' former genus, Aster, comes from the Ancient Greek word {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (astḗr), meaning "star", referring to the shape of the flower. The word "aster" was used to describe a star-like flower as early as 1542 in {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, a book by the German physician and botanist Leonhart Fuchs. An old common name for Astereae species using the suffix "-wort" is "starwort", also spelled "star-wort" or "star wort". An early use of this name can be found in the same work by Fuchs as {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, translated from German literally as "star herb" (Template:Wikt-lang Template:Wikt-lang).Template:Sfnp The name "star-wort" was in use by Aiton in his 1789 Hortus Kewensis for Aster novae-angliae. He used the common names "New England cluster'd star-wort" and "New England panicl'd star-wort" in this work.Template:Sfnp
Distribution and habitat
Distribution
Native
New England aster is native to most of the central and northeastern United States and southeastern Canada, from Manitoba south to Louisiana and east to Maine. It is absent from much of the far southeastern United States and from boreal regions in North America.Template:Sfnp There are isolated populations to the west of the main range, such as in New Mexico and in the Black Hills of South Dakota.Template:Sfnp
Introduced
Due to widespread cultivation, introduced populations are present elsewhere in North America including in Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.Template:Sfnp It was found in Nova Scotia and considered a possible escapee from cultivation,Template:Sfnp but Template:As of, it is categorized as native there. It is considered ephemeral in British Columbia,Template:Sfnp with recorded sightings in 1993 and 1994 near Vancouver, probably originating from railroad cars and garden waste.Template:Sfnp
New England aster is widely naturalized throughout most of Europe, in parts of Central Asia,Template:SfnpTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp on the island of Hispaniola,Template:Sfnp and in the island country of New Zealand.Template:Sfnp
Habitat
S. novae-angliae is found in a wide variety of open, typically moist habitats, including meadows, prairies, marshes, fens, forest edges, and disturbed anthropogenic sites, such as roadsides and former agricultural fields.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp In its native habitat, it grows primarily in moist calcareous soils,Template:Sfnp favoring more marshy-wet sites in the western-most of its range.Template:Sfnp
It is categorized on the United States National Wetland Plant List (NWPL) with the Wetland indicator status rating of Facultative Wetland (FACW) in all wetland regions, meaning it usually occurs in wetlands, but not out of necessity.Template:Sfnp For example, in one northern location, the Niagara Peninsula in southern Ontario, it was found to grow in dry and sandy soils. It grows best in soils with a pH of 5–7.Template:Sfnp
Ecology
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Symphyotrichum novae-angliae has coefficients of conservatism (C-values) in the Floristic Quality Assessment (FQA) that range from Template:Nowrap depending on evaluation region.Template:Sfnp The higher the C-value, the lower tolerance the species has for disturbance and the greater the likelihood that it is growing in a presettlement natural community.Template:Sfnp In the Dakotas, for example, S. novae-angliae has a C-value of 8, meaning its populations there are found in high-quality remnant natural areas with little environmental degradation but can tolerate some periodic disturbance.Template:Sfnp In contrast, for the Atlantic coastal pine barrens of Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island, it has been given a C-value of 1, meaning its presence in locations of that ecoregion provides little or no confidence of a remnant habitat.Template:Sfnp
Reproduction
Symphyotrichum novae-angliae reproduces sexually via wind-dispersed seeds and asexually (vegetatively) via short rhizomes. The species is largely incapable of self-pollination and requires cross-pollination for seed production.Template:Sfnp The ray florets of species in the Symphyotrichum genus are exclusively female, each having a pistil but no stamen, while disk florets are androgynous, each with both male and female reproductive parts.Template:SfnpTemplate:Efn
Pollinators and food-seekers
The seeds of Template:Nowrap are an important fall and winter food source for songbirds.Template:Sfnp Further, a wide variety of generalist nectar-feeding insects visit the plant, including butterflies, moths, ants, flies, and bees. It is heavily visited by long-tongued bumblebees, including the golden northern bumble bee (Bombus fervidus) and the half-black bumblebee (Bombus vagans), and less so by short-tongued species.Template:Sfnp Some bees will collect pollen in addition to nectar, such as the broad-handed leafcutter bee (Megachile latimanus) and Drury's long-horned bee (Melissodes druriellus).Template:SfnpTemplate:Efn
Pests and diseases
Insects
A gall midge insect, Rhopalomyia astericaulis, produces a Template:Nowrap stem gall on this species. Leaf-mining insects include beetles (Sumitrosis inaequalis, Systena hudsonias, and Microrhopala xerene) and flies (Agromyza curvipalpis, Agromyza platypera, Napomyza lateralis, and Phytomyza albiceps). A butterfly known to feed on New England aster as a caterpillar is the Gorgone checkerspot (Chlosyne gorgone).Template:Sfnp The warty leaf beetle Exema canadensis breeds on S. novae-angliae.Template:Sfnp
Fungi
Fungi known to affect the species include the mildews Basidiophora entospora (downy) and Golovinomyces asterum (powdery), and a black knot fungus Gibberidea heliopsidis. Leaf spot fungi include Discosphaerina pseudhimantia and Placosphaeria haydeni (both making black spots), as well as Ramularia asteris, R. macrospora,Template:Sfnp and Septoria atropurpurea, the latter making purple stains.Template:Sfnp Two rusts have been recorded on S. novae-angliae: the brown rust Puccinia asteris and the red rust Coleosporium asterum.Template:Sfnp
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A bee of the Agapostemon genus on New England aster
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Megachile latimanus perusing S. novae-angliae and a Solidago species
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Monarch (Danaus plexippus) on New England aster
Conservation
Template:As of, NatureServe listed S. novae-angliae as Secure (G5) worldwide. This status was last reviewed on Template:Nowrap. In individual provinces and states, it is listed as Possibly Extirpated (SX) in Oklahoma; Critically Imperiled (S1) in Saskatchewan, Georgia, South Carolina, and Wyoming; Imperiled (S2) in Colorado; and, Vulnerable (S3) in North Carolina.Template:Sfnp
Uses
Medicinal
Symphyotrichum novae-angliae has been used for various medicinal purposes. In his 1828 Medical Flora, French botanist Constantine Samuel Rafinesque wrote the following about its use to treat skin eruptions, including urushiol-induced contact dermatitis from poison ivy and poison sumac:Template:Sfnp
The A. novanglia is employed in decoction internally, with a strong decoction externally, in many eruptive diseases of the skin: it removes also the poisonous state of the skin caused by Rhus or Shumac.Template:Efn
Among Indigenous peoples of North America, it has been documented that the Cherokee have made a poultice of the roots for pain,Template:Sfnp an infusion of the roots for diarrhea,Template:Sfnp an infusion of the plant for fever,Template:Sfnp and have sniffed the ooze from the roots for catarrh.Template:Sfnp
Both the Meskwaki and the Potawatomi have used the plant to revive people: the Meskwaki by smudging, and the Potawatomi through fumigation.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp The Iroquois have made a decoction of the plant for weak skinTemplate:Sfnp and of the roots and leaves for fevers.Template:Sfnp They have used the plant as a love medicine.Template:Sfnp Both the Mohawk people and the Iroquois have used an infusion of the whole plant in combination with rhizomes from another plant to treat mothers with intestinal fevers.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp The Ojibwe have smoked the root in pipes to attract game.Template:Sfnp
Gardening
Template:See alsoOver 70 cultivars have been developed, and about 50 were in commerce Template:As of.Template:Sfnp The S. novae-angliae cultivars grow to between Template:Convert in height, with the notable exception of 'Purple Dome', at Template:Convert.Template:Sfnp Long popular in Europe where it was introduced into cultivation in 1710,Template:Sfnp New England aster has only more recently become commonly cultivated in North America.Template:Sfnp
Twelve cultivars have received the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit (AGM) Template:As of,Template:Sfnp including 'Brunswick' (bright pink),Template:Sfnp 'Helen Picton' (purple),Template:Sfnp 'James Ritchie' (deep pink),Template:Sfnp and 'Rosa Sieger' (rose-pink).Template:Sfnp
Notes
Citations
References
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External links
- New England Aster at Illinois Wildflowers
- New England Aster at Minnesota Wildflowers
- New England Aster at Ontario Wildflowers
- Symphyotrichum novae-angliae at Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center (wildflower.org)