ASTER FAMILY (Compositae or Asteraceae)
IND. STATUS: OBL
FIELD CHARACTERISTICS: A clonal, perennial herb 40-150 cm. high. Stem leaves are lobed-clasping at their bases and are not conspicuously crowded. Stems are reddish with coarse, stiff, white hairs. The inflorescence is hairy or smooth, but does not have glands. Ray flowers are usually pale blue to deep lavender or violet. Disc flowers are yellow. Nutlets are smooth. In flower from August to October. Refer to Appendix B for a key to wetland asters.
ECOLOGICAL NOTES: Redstem aster occurs in fresh (wet) meadows, sedge meadows, shrub-carrs, alder thickets, calcareous fens, and on shores.
SOURCE: Gleason and Cronquist (1991); and Swink and Wilhelm (1994).