Sericocarpus asteroides (toothed white-topped aster)

Sericocarpus asteroides (L.) Britton Sterns & Poggenb.

Aster asteroides (L.) MacMill.

Aster paternus Cronquist

Conyza asteroides L.

Toothed white-topped aster

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Asteridae	A large class that encompasses asters
Order	Asterales	Flowering plants with a central disk flower and surrounding petals, like daisies
Family	Asteraceae	The aster family, which also includes daisies and sunflowers; from the Greek ἀστήρ, “star,” for the star-shaped flowers
Genus	Sericocarpus	From the Greek serikos, “silky,” and karpos, “fruit”
Species	asteroides	Resembling the aster

About plant names...

The toothed white-topped aster is a North American native.

Identification: As asters go (there are zillions of different kinds), these are sort of disheveled-looking, at least the ones I’ve seen. I don’t mean to pick on them, but they are easy to overlook at first. Toothed white-topped asters are 6-26" (14-65 cm) tall, with stems covered with soft, downy hairs. Leaves are roughly oval-shaped, smooth-edged toward the bottom, rounded toward the tip of each leaf. Each flower consists of a central disk flower that is off-white, and four to eight white petals that form the ray flower. Flowerheads are ½" (1.3 cm) across, occurring in small clusters. They flower between June and October.

Online References:

Sericocarpus asteroides on www.jeffpippen.com

Sericocarpus asteroides at Maine.gov’s Department of Conservation Maine Natural Areas Program

Sericocarpus asteroides on the Connecticut Botanical Society's Connecticut wildflowers site

Sericocarpus asteroides on Discover Life

Sericocarpus asteroides on SEINet—the Southwest Environmental Information Network

Sericocarpus asteroides on eFloras

References:

Newcomb, Lawrence, Morrison, Gordon (Illus.), Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide, Little, Brown and Company, 1977, p. 210

Peterson, Roger Tory, McKenny, Margaret, Peterson Field Guides: A Field Guide to Wildflowers of Northeastern and North Central North America, Houghton Mifflin, 1968, p. 94

7/31/2012 · Bemis Rd Conservation Area, Pepperell, MA
≈ 3½ × 4" (9.6 × 10 cm) ID is uncertain

7/31/2012 · Bemis Rd Conservation Area, Pepperell, MA
≈ 4½ × 6" (12 × 16 cm) ID is uncertain

Sericocarpus asteroides description by Thomas H. Kent, last updated 25 May 2020.

7/31/2012 · Bemis Rd Conservation Area, Pepperell, MA
≈ 7 × 4½" (17 × 11 cm) ID is uncertain

7/31/2012 · Bemis Rd Conservation Area, Pepperell, MA
≈ 4½ × 6" (11 × 15 cm) ID is uncertain

7/31/2012 · Bemis Rd Conservation Area, Pepperell, MA
≈ 7 × 11" (18 × 27 cm) ID is uncertain

Range:

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