Symphyotrichum undulatum
is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to eastern North America. Its common name is, and it is a perennial, herbaceous plant that flowers August through October and may reach heights between.
Description
Symphyotrichum undulatum is a perennial, herbaceous plant that flowers from August through October, growing to heights between from a cespitose rootstock. The roots can have short rhizomes or branched and woody caudices.Flowers
There are, sometimes up to 25, blue to purple or sometimes lilac ray florets of lengths and widths of. These surround, sometimes up to 25, cream or light yellow disk florets of depths with lanceolate lobes of lengths. As the disk florets age, they become purple.Fruit
The fruits of Symphyotrichum undulatum are not true achenes but are cypselae, resembling an achene but surrounded by a calyx sheath. This is true for all members of the Asteraceae family. After pollination, the seeds of S. undulatum become dull purple to light brown or tan with an oblong-obovoid compressed shape, in length with nerves, and with a few stiff, slender bristles on the surface. They also have tufts of hairs which are cream or rose-tinged and in length.Chromosomes
The species has a monoploid number of eight chromosomes Individual plants with 16 and 32 sets of its chromosomes have been found, meaning the species is diploid and tetraploid.Distribution and habitat
Symphyotrichum undulatum is native to the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and Ontario; and, the U.S. states of Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia, as well as in the District of Columbia.It can be found at elevations between in rocky or loamy soils, on sandhills, or on limestone- or sandstone-based bluffs.