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Key to Symphyotrichum
https://fsus.ncbg.unc.edu/main.php?pg=show-key.php&keyid=40625
2 Vegetative parts (stems, leaves, array branches, phyllaries) persistently bluish-glaucous; leaves slightly fleshy in texture and clasping; plants nearly glabrous (leaf margins scabrous, rarely upper stems somewhat hirsute); stems 2-7 (-12) dm tall; [subgenus Symphyotrichum, section Symphyotrichum, subsection Heterophylli, series Concinni]. | |
2 Vegetative parts (stems, leaves, array branches, phyllaries) green, not bluish-glaucous; leaves mostly not fleshy (except subg. Astropolium); plants glabrous or variously hairy; stems 2-30 dm tall. | |
3 Leaves strongly basally disposed, basal leaves linear, upper cauline leaves much reduced; heads few, long-pedunculate (peduncles 1-20+ cm) in open ± corymbiform arrays; disc florets 47-57; [of wet pine savannahs of FL and s. AL]; [subgenus Chapmaniani]. | |
3 Leaves cauline, basal and proximal leaves generally not linear, often withered by anthesis; heads few to many, mostly in paniculiform or racemiform arrays; disc florets often fewer; [collectively widespread]. | |
4 Ray florets mostly in 2-3 series, blades 1.3-4.2 mm, often not exceeding mature pappus (S. tenuifolium and S. bracei in 1 series to 8.5 mm); plants appearing entirely glabrous (leaf axils or margins sometimes inconspicuously strigillose); plants either taprooted annuals or perennials with succulent, linear, entire leaves; [coastal wetlands, often saline, or disturbed areas inland]; [subgenus Astropolium] | |
6 Stem leaves sessile, entire, and cordate- or auriculate-clasping at base (if only rounded or cuneate, then mostly 1-3 cm long); leaves crowded, internodes of main stem < 3.5 cm long (rarely longer in S. patens); plants stipitate-glandular in arrays (on upper stems, leaves, peduncles, bracts, and/or phyllaries; absent in sect. Concolores and sparse to absent in some vars. of S. patens); rays purple, blue, or lavender; [subgenus Virgulus] | |
6 Stem leaves winged-petiolate (lower, often withering by anthesis) to sessile (upper), often toothed, bases attenuate to auriculate-clasping (main stem leaves mostly > 3 cm long); leaves not crowded, internodes of main stem > 3.5 cm long; arrays eglandular; rays white in some species. | |
9 Free tips of phyllaries tightly involute, long-acuminate; stem leaves not crowded, often broader, not upcurved; [subgenus Symphyotrichum] | |
10 Upper stems, peduncles, bracts, and phyllaries ±densely hirtellous and usually also stipitate-glandular; leaves entire, sessile, and mostly rounded to subclasping at base; [subgenus Virgulus] | |
10 Stems pubescent in lines distally (densely hirsute in S. puniceum), plants eglandular; leaves usually toothed, lower winged-petiolate, upper auriculate-clasping or cuneate; [subgenus Symphyotrichum] | |
11 Involucres campanulate to cylindric, phyllaries in 3-6 series; ray laminae 3-11 (-14) mm long (longer in S. boreale); peduncles not as above (except S. dumosum and S. estesii); stem leaves with or without axillary clusters | |
Key to Asteraceae, Key M: Herbaceous composites with the leaves alternate or basal and the heads radiate, the rays white, pink, purple, and with a pappus of bristles only
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https://fsus.ncbg.unc.edu/main.php?pg=show-key.php&keyid=41112
1 Head 1 per plant (individual rosette); stems 0.1-0.3 dm tall; [TX and OK westwards] | |
2 Stems with numerous thorns (1-2 cm long, modified axillary branches), and few or no leaves | |
2 Stems leafy, not armed with thorns. | |
4 Annuals from taproots; ray florets 0.3-7 mm long. | |
8 Heads borne in corymbiform arrays, the branches often subtended by large and leaf-like bracts; phyllaries < 2.5 (-3)× as long as wide, often > 1 mm wide; plants (in most species) colonial by rhizomes; rays (in most species) white; phyllaries (in many species) glandular | |
8 Heads borne in paniculiform arrays, the branches bearing small and narrow bracts; phyllaries > 3× as long as wide, often < 1 mm wide; plants (in most species) solitary; rays (in most species) blue, violet, or pink; phyllaries eglandular | |
10 Heads borne either in flat-topped or rounded, corymbose arrays, or in narrow racemiform or spiciform panicles, or solitary. | |
11 Leaves either longer or broader or both, herbaceous; Leaves (5-) 13-45 mm wide, herbaceous, neither scabrous-margined nor spine-tipped; plants 4-30 dm tall; pappus not divided into distinct inner and outer series. | |
12 Plants 10-35 dm tall; larger leaves (basal or low on the stem) with cuneate or attenuate bases, the blades 30-50 cm long; [non-native, rarely persistent or spreading from horticultural use] | |
13 Heads borne either in flat-topped or rounded, corymbose arrays, or in narrow racemiform/spiciform panicles, or solitary. | |
15 Heads borne in corymbose arrays. | |
16 Disc flowers yellow (and often fading to pink or purplish). | |
17 Rays 2-7, the ray ligules 2-11 mm long, often twisted or contorted; phyllaries whitish with a distinct green tip, the green area about as wide as long | |
17 Rays (8-) 9-40, the ray ligules 4-20 mm long, generally planar (or neatly coiling at post-maturity); phyllaries various. | |