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• Dichotomous Key
• Asteraceae
• Asteraceae Group 4
• Eurybia
• Eurybia spectabilis

Eurybia spectabilis — purple wood-aster

Facts

Purple wood-aster has large flower heads up to 2 inches (5cm) in diameter, with bright blue-violet rays. It inhabits sandy soils of open woodlands, roadsides and clearings in southern New England on the coastal plain. The phyllaries (bracts at the base of the flower heads) are strongly spreading and densely glandular, sticky to the touch.

Habitat

Anthropogenic (man-made or disturbed habitats), meadows and fields, woodlands

Characteristics

• Flowers

  Bases of bract appendages

  NA

  Bract cycle number

  there are three or more cycles of bracts

  Bract margins

  there are fine hairs along the bract margins

  Bract outer side hair type

  • the bracts are hairy on their outer surfaces, with hairs having glands (a swelling at the tip of the hair)
  • the bracts are hairy, with simple hairs on their outer surface

  Bract outer side hairs

  the bracts are hairy on their outer surfaces

  Bract shape

  • the main bracts are elliptic (widest near the middle and tapered towards the base and tip)
  • the main bracts are oblanceolate (widest near the tip, but otherwise narrow and tapering)

  Bract texture

  the bracts have a similar texture to a leaf

  Bract tip orientation

  the tips of the bracts curve outwards and downwards from the plant

  Bract tip shape

  • the tips of the bracts acute (have a sharp point)
  • the tips of the bracts are obtuse (have a blunt point)

  Disk flower color

  • blue to purple
  • green to brown
  • pink to red
  • yellow

  Disk flower lobe number

  5

  Disk flower number

  • 21-50
  • more than 50

  Disk flower reproductive parts

  the disk flower has both pollen- and seed-producing parts

  Disk flower shape

  the disk flower is abruptly widened at some point below the lobes

  Flower head number

  • each flowering stem has four or more flower heads on it
  • each flowering stem has only one to three flower heads on it

  Flower head outer flowers

  at the outer edge of the flower head, each flower has a single enlarged lobe or strap

  Flower head platform

  the base has no bristles or papery scales

  Flower head platform surface

  NA

  Flower head shape

  • the flower head is hemispherical (like the bottom half of a sphere)
  • the flower head is shaped like a cone with the point up

  Flower type in flower heads

  the flower head has tubular disk flowers in the center and ray flowers, these often strap-shaped, around the periphery

  Height of flower head base

  7.5–16 mm

  Inflorescence branching (Solidago)

  NA

  Inflorescence shape

  the inflorescence is flat-topped in profile

  Number of bracts at flower head base

  35–70

  Ovary cross-section

  the ovary has five or more corners in cross-section

  Ovary hair type

  the ovary has hairs on it, but the hairs have no glands

  Ovary hairs

  the ovary has hairs on it

  Ovary lines or ribs

  there are ten or more ribs visible on the ovary

  Ovary profile

  in profile, the ovary is roughly elliptical (widest in the middle, tapering to both ends)

  Peduncle hair type

  • the hairs on the peduncles are simple (not branched), don’t have glands, and are not woolly
  • the hairs on the peduncles have glands at their tips

  Peduncle hairs

  the peduncles are hairy

  Ray flower color

  blue to purple

  Ray flower reproductive parts

  the ray flowers have carpels or stamens, but not both

  Ray flowers

  • 11-15
  • 16-25
  • 26-50

  Ray length

  12–25 mm

  Reproductive system

  some of the flowers on the plant have only carpels or stamens, while others have both carpels and stamens

  Scale tip

  NA

  Width of flower head base

  8–20 mm

• Fruits or seeds

  Number of pappus parts

  11 or more

  Ovary length in developed fruit

  3–4.2 mm

  Seed hair tuft color

  the pappus hairs are tan to dark brown

  Seed hair tuft details

  the pappus hairs are hooked or barbed

  Seed hair tuft length

  5.3–7.6 mm

  Seed hairs uniform

  all the pappus hairs are approximately the same length

  Seed tuft scale number

  0

  Seed tuft type

  the pappus is made of very fine hairs or bristles

  Top of disk flower ovary

  NA

  Tuft or plume on fruit

  at least a part of the plume is made up of fine bristles

• Glands or sap

  Leaf blade glands

  the leaf blades have no glandular (translucent) dots or scales

  Ovary glands

  there are no visible glands on the ovary

  Sap

  the sap is clear and watery

• Growth form

  Growth form

  the plant has one or more free-standing stems

  Plant lifespan

  the plant is perennial, it shows evidence of previous year's leaves, stems or stem bases

  Spines on plant

  the plant has no spines

  Underground organs

  the plant has a rhizome (a horizontal underground stem with roots growing from it)

• Leaves

  Final leaf segment length (compound lvs only)

  0 mm

  Final leaf segment width (compound lvs only)

  0 mm

  Hairs on underside of leaf blade

  • the underside of the leaf is fuzzy or hairy
  • the underside of the leaf is not hairy, or has very few hairs

  Hairs on upper side of leaf blade

  • the upper side of the leaf is fuzzy or hairy
  • the upper side of the leaf is not hairy, or has very few hairs

  Leaf arrangement

  alternate: there is one leaf per node along the stem

  Leaf blade base

  • the leaf has a distinct petiole
  • the leaf has no petiole
  • the leaf has no petiole and at the base it clasps the stem, or goes all the way around the stem so the stem appears to pierce the leaf

  Leaf blade base shape

  the base of the leaf blade is cuneate (wedge-shaped, tapers to the base with relatively straight, converging edges), or narrow

  Leaf blade bloom

  the underside of the leaf has no noticeable bloom

  Leaf blade edges

  • the edge of the leaf blade has no teeth or lobes
  • the edge of the leaf blade has teeth

  Leaf blade flatness

  the edges of the leaf are curled under

  Leaf blade length

  6–160 mm

  Leaf blade shape

  • the leaf blade is elliptic (widest near the middle and tapering at both ends)
  • the leaf blade is lanceolate (lance-shaped; widest below the middle and tapering at both ends)
  • the leaf blade is linear (very narrow with more or less parallel sides)
  • the leaf blade is oblanceolate (lance-shaped, but with the widest point above the middle of the leaf blade)
  • the leaf blade is oblong (rectangular but with rounded ends)
  • the leaf blade is obovate (egg-shaped, but with the widest point above the middle of the leaf blade)
  • the leaf blade is ovate (widest below the middle and broadly tapering at both ends)
  • the leaf blade is spatulate (spoon-shaped; narrow near the base, then suddenly widening to a rounded tip)

  Leaf blade surface colors

  there is no noticeable color variation on the upper surface of the leaf

  Leaf blade tip

  • the tip of the leaf blade is acute (sharply pointed)
  • the tip of the leaf blade is obtuse (bluntly pointed)

  Leaf blade width

  1–40 mm

  Leaf disposition

  the lower leaves are larger, toothier, and/or on longer stalks than the upper leaves

  Leaf spines

  there are no spines on the leaf edges

  Leaf stalk

  • the leaves have leaf stalks
  • the leaves have no leaf stalks, but attach directly to the stem

  Leaf stalk length

  0–90 mm

  Leaf tip extension

  NA

  Leaf type

  leaves are simple (i.e., lobed or unlobed but not separated into leaflets)

  Leaflet number

  0

  Specific leaf type

  the leaves are simple (i.e., lobed or unlobed but not separated into leaflets

• Place

  Habitat

  terrestrial

  New England state

  • Connecticut
  • Massachusetts
  • Rhode Island

  Specific habitat

  • man-made or disturbed habitats
  • meadows or fields
  • woodlands

• Scent

  Plant odor

  the plant does not have much of an odor

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Flowering stem cross-section

  the flowering stem is circular, or with lots of small angles

  Leaves on stem

  there is at least one full leaf above the base of the flowering stem

  Stem bloom

  • the stem has a powdery or waxy film on it that can be rubbed away
  • there is no powdery or waxy film on the stem

  Stem internode hair type

  • at least some of the hairs on the stem have glands
  • the hairs on the stem are plain, without glands or branches, and not tangled

  Stem internode hairs

  • the stem has hairs between the nodes
  • the stem has no hairs between the nodes

  Stem wings

  the stem does not have wings on it

Wetland status

Not classified

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae