The biology of Canadian weeds. 125. Symphyotrichum ericoides (L.) Nesom (Aster ericoides L.) and S. novae-angliae (L.) Nesom (A. novae-angliae L.)

Abstract

Symphyotrichum ericoides, the heath aster, is a herbaceous perennial, arising from woody, corm-like rootstocks or herbaceous rhizomes. This facultative upland species occurs in open, dry ground in plains, railway sidings, prairies, ranges, glades, grassy hillsides, dunes, sand bars, river banks, shore salt flats, and thickets. A weed in Canada, and sometimes declared so in the United States and other times not, S. ericoides has an extensive North American distribution, occurring from Nova Scotia and Maine in the east, westward to southem British Columbia, and southward to northern Mexico. No infraspecific taxa are recognized in this treatment of the species. Symphyotrichum novae-angliae, the New England aster, is a herbaceous perennial, arising from thick, short-branched, woody root-stocks. This facultative wetland species occurs in open places such as along roadside ditches and fence rows, on dry ground in plains, prairies and glades, in clearings, meadows and abandoned fields, and along stream banks and swamps, or in moist open or sometimes wooded places. A weed in both Canada and the United States, S. novae-angliae occurs commonly throughout the northem two-thirds of the eastern deciduous forest region of North America and onto the Great Plains. In the east, Nova Scotia populations are likely escaped cultivars, but in the west, isolated natural populations occur from the Black Hills region of South Dakota south to New Mexico. No infraspecific taxa are recognized in this treatment of the species. In those habitats where the two species co-occur, the morphologically intermediate F1 hybrid S. amethystinum is often found.