Symphyotrichum is a genus of over 100 species and naturally occurring hybrids of herbaceous annual and perennial plants in the composite family Asteraceae, most which were formerly treated within the genus Aster. The majority are endemic to North America, but several also occur in the West Indies, Central and South America, as well as in eastern Eurasia. Several species have been introduced to Europe as garden specimens, most notably New England aster and New York aster.
Symphyotrichum puniceum, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to eastern North America. It is commonly known as purplestem aster, red-stalk aster, red-stemmed aster, red-stem aster, and swamp aster. It also has been called early purple aster, cocash, swanweed, and meadow scabish.
Symphyotrichum laeve is a flowering plant native to Canada, the United States, and Coahuila (Mexico). It has the common names of smooth blue aster, smooth aster, smooth-leaved aster, glaucous Michaelmas-daisy and glaucous aster.
Symphyotrichum sericeum is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to central North America. Commonly known as western silver aster, western silvery aster, and silky aster, it is a perennial, herbaceous plant that may reach 70 centimeters tall. Its flowers have purple ray florets and pink then purple disk florets, and its leaves are firm and silvery-green.
Symphyotrichum ascendens is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names western aster, long-leaved aster, and Rocky Mountain aster. Blooming July–September, it is native to western North America and can be found at elevations of 500–3,200 m (1,600–10,500 ft) in several habitats.
Symphyotrichum eatonii is a species of aster known by the common name Eaton's aster. It is native to much of western North America from British Columbia to Saskatchewan, the Sierra Nevada in California, the Rocky Mountains region, to Arizona and New Mexico, where it grows in many habitats, especially wet areas such as meadows and near ditches.
Symphyotrichum pilosum, commonly called hairy white oldfield aster or frost aster, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to central and eastern North America. It is a perennial, herbaceous plant that may reach 20 to 120 centimeters tall. Its flowers have white ray florets and yellow disk florets.
Symphyotrichum depauperatum, commonly known as serpentine aster or starved aster, is a rare species in the family Asteraceae adapted to serpentine barrens, an ecosystem with a high concentration of toxic metals in the soil. It has been found in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and on some diabase glades in North Carolina. It grows to 50 centimeters and has white ray florets surrounding a center of yellow disk florets.
Symphyotrichum prenanthoides is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name crookedstem aster. It is native to northcentral and northeastern North America.
Symphyotrichum falcatum is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. Commonly called white prairie aster and western heath aster, it is native to a widespread area of central and western North America.
Symphyotrichum dumosum is a species of flowering plant of the family Asteraceae commonly known as rice button aster and bushy aster. It is native to much of eastern and central North America, as well as Haiti and Dominican Republic. It is a perennial, herbaceous plant that may reach a height of 1 meter.
Symphyotrichum oolentangiense, commonly known as skyblue aster and azure aster, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to eastern North America.
Symphyotrichum subulatum, commonly known as eastern annual saltmarsh aster or, in Britain and Ireland where it is naturalized, annual saltmarsh aster, is an annual plant in the family Asteraceae native to the eastern United States and the Gulf Coast to Texas. The species grows primarily in coastal salt marshes, although in the Ozarks it occurs as a non-marine weedy variety.
Symphyotrichum shortii, commonly called Short's aster, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to North America, where it is primarily found in interior areas east of the Mississippi River. Its natural habitat is in thin rocky soils of woodlands and thickets often around limestone bluffs. It is common throughout much of its range, although it is generally restricted to intact natural communities.
Symphyotrichum patens, commonly known as late purple aster or spreading aster, is a perennial, herbaceous plant found in the eastern United States.
Symphyotrichum foliaceum is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to western North America. Commonly known as leafy aster, leafy-bracted aster, and alpine leafybract aster, it is a perennial, herbaceous plant that may reach 10 to 60 centimeters in height. Its flowers have violet to purple ray florets and yellow disk florets. Four varieties were accepted as of July 2021 by Plants of the World Online (POWO), as follows: S. foliaceum var. apricum, S. foliaceum var. canbyi, S. foliaceum var. cusickii, and S. foliaceum var. parryi. The autonym is S. foliaceum var. foliaceum.
Symphyotrichum spathulatum is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to western North America including northwestern Mexico. Commonly known as western mountain aster, it is a perennial, herbaceous plant that may reach 20 to 80 centimeters tall. Its flowers, which open in July and August, have violet ray florets and yellow disk florets.
Symphyotrichum divaricatum is an annual and herbaceous plant commonly known as southern annual saltmarsh aster. It is native to the southern United States and some northern states of Mexico.
Symphyotrichum kentuckiense is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae commonly known as Price's aster, Miss Price's aster, Sadie's aster, lavender oldfield aster, or Kentucky aster. It is a perennial, herbaceous plant endemic to the southeastern United States, specifically to broken limestone cedar glades and roadsides in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. It blooms from August through October, reaches heights between 30 and 100 centimeters, and has green to reddish-brown stems. It is a hairless plant with blue to blue-violet ray florets.
