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 ericoides, known as white heath aster, frost aster, or heath aster, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to much of central and eastern North America. It has been introduced to parts of Europe and western Asia.
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 frondosum is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to western North America. Commonly known as short-rayed alkali aster, it is an annual or perennial herbaceous plant that may reach 140 centimeters tall.
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 lanceolatum is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to North America. Common names include panicled aster, lance-leaved aster, and white panicled aster. It is a perennial, herbaceous plant that may reach 1.5 meters tall or more, sometimes approaching 2 meters. The lance-shaped leaves are generally hairless but may feel slightly rough to the touch on the top because of tiny bristles. The flowers grow in clusters and branch in panicles. They have 16–50 white ray florets that are up to 14 millimeters long and sometimes tinged pink or purple. The flower centers consist of disk florets that begin as yellow and become purple as they mature.
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 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 patens, commonly known as late purple aster or spreading aster, is a perennial, herbaceous plant found in the eastern United States.
Symphyotrichum simmondsii is a species of flowering plant of the family Asteraceae endemic to the southeastern United States. Commonly known as Simmonds' aster, it is a colony-forming herbaceous perennial.
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 glabrifolium is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to Argentina and Chile where it inhabits wet meadows and stream edges. It is a perennial, herbaceous plant that grows 5 to 25 centimeters tall. Its flowers have white or lilac ray florets and yellow disk florets.
Symphyotrichum graminifolium is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to the South American countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. It is a perennial, herbaceous plant that grows to 1.5 meters tall. Its numerous flowers are in broad corymbiform arrays with lilac or bluish ray florets.
Symphyotrichum patagonicum is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae endemic to the Argentinan provinces of Chubut, Mendoza, Neuquén, and Santa Cruz. It is an annual, herbaceous plant that grows 3 to 30 centimeters tall. Its flowers have short white ray florets in 3 or 4 series and numerous disk florets.
Symphyotrichum peteroanum is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae endemic to Argentina and Chile. It is a perennial, herbaceous plant that grows 20 to 60 centimeters tall. Its flowers have white ray florets in one series that are 6–8 millimeters long. It grows in tall forests with trees that exceed 15 meters at elevations of 1,000–2,200 meters in humid montane ecosystems.
Symphyotrichum regnellii is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to Argentina and Brazil. It is herbaceous plant that grows 60 to 120 centimeters tall. Its flowers have white to pink ray florets that are 3 millimeters long. It grows in swamps and wet savannas.
Symphyotrichum turneri is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to Durango, Mexico.
