Sericocarpus Nees. White-topped Aster.

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A genus of 5 species, herbs, of North America. This group of species, traditionally treated as Sericocarpus, was transferred to Aster by Cronquist, a treatment followed by most (but not all) recent floristic works. It now appears, based on morphological and molecular studies, that the traditional treatment as a separate genus is far superior. Nesom (1993a) argued that a variety of characters indicate that Sericocarpus is more closely allied to Solidago, Euthamia, Bigelowia, Chrysoma, and Gutierrezia than it is to Aster. Noyes & Rieseberg (1999) provided strong support for this contention, based on molecular evidence. See Nesom (1993a), Jones (1980), Semple & Brouillet (1980), and Noyes & Rieseberg (1999) for further discussion about the affinities of this group.

Ref: Cronquist (1980); Leonard, Cook, & Semple (2005); Nesom (1993a); Nesom (2021c); Noyes & Rieseberg (1999); Semple & Leonard (2006) In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (2006b). Show full citations.

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