Comments

Comments are encouraged and appreciated. We are amateur botanist, and we do make mistakes sometimes with our identifications. We strive to make this a good identifying resource. All comments are moderated by me and may take several days to appear. This is due to the high number of inappropriate comments that have nothing to do with this subject.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Prairie Golden Aster (Heterotheca camporum)


























Prairie Golden Aster (Heterotheca camporum) is a robust taprooted, coarsely but often thinly hairy perennial herb, from 16 to 40" tall with slender creeping rhizomes as well as a taproot. 

Leaves are alternate, more or less lance-shaped, to 3" long and 0.8" wide, mostly entire, but sometimes with a few small sharp teeth. The disks are from 0.5 to 1.0" wide and yellow. The 21 to 34 rays are yellow about 0.4" long. 

Bloom Time: August - September. 

Where Found: Fields and roadsides. A praire species of the Midwest, recently introduced into the southeastern U.S., Middle and East TN. 

Notes: Golden Asters have been placed in three genera: Chrysopsis, Heterotheca, and Pityopsis. They have been reclassified several times, and even for the trained botanist, it is a taxonomically difficult group. Golden Asters may be identified in various manuals by a number of different names. 
 Photos taken: Lock 5 in Wilson County.

No comments:

Post a Comment