Symphyotrichum laeve (Smooth Blue Aster)

Symphyotrichum laeve

Symphyotrichum laeve (L.) A. Löve & D. Löve

Smooth Blue Aster, Smooth Blue American-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	Symphyotrichum	From Greek symphysis, “borne together or growing together, coalescing,” and trichinos, “hair, a single hair”
Species	laeve	Latin laevis, “smooth”

About plant names...

Smooth blue asters are North American natives.

Identification: Plants are 20-39" (50-100 cm) in height. Stems are waxy and smooth, green with a whitish covering, sometimes purple. Leaves are smooth, bluish in color, thick and firm, usually toothless, usually hairless, and clasping. Flowers are bluish to purple (rarely white), ¾-1¼" (1.9-3.2 cm) across, appearing from August to October. Central disc flowers are yellow, aging to purple. There are 13-23 (rarely up to 11-34) rays on each flower. The appear in loose panicles.

Online References:

Symphyotrichum laeve on Ontario Wildflowers

Symphyotrichum laeve on the New England Wildflower Society’s GoBotany site

Symphyotrichum laeve at Minnesota Wildflowers

Symphyotrichum laeve on the Connecticut Botanical Society's Connecticut wildflowers site

Symphyotrichum laeve at the Missouri Botanical Garden

Symphyotrichum laeve at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Symphyotrichum laeve on the USDA Forest Service's Fire Effects Information Database

Symphyotrichum laeve on eFloras

References:

Clemants, Steven; Gracie, Carol, Wildflowers in the Field and Forest, Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 20

Newcomb, Lawrence, Morrison, Gordon (Illus.), Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide, Little, Brown and Company, 1977, p. 460