Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Hairy golden aster

HAIRY GOLDEN ASTER

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Heterotheca canescens (DC. ) Shinners

[=Chrysopsis canescens (DC. ) T. & G.]

Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 6-16 inches

Family: Asteraceae - Sunflower Family

Flowering Period: July, August, September

Stems:

Erect, often clustered, simple or much-branched above, soft-hairy.

Leaves:

Alternate, simple, lower leaves stalked, upper leaves sessile, sometimes clasping upward, linear to linear-lanceolate, usually more than 5 times longer than wide, grayish green; upper leaves and inflorescences silky with soft, appressed, silvery-white hairs.

Inflorescences:

Heads, clustered, terminal; subtended by narrow, stalked leaves longer than involucral bracts; heads top-shaped to cylindric; bracts overlapping in 3-5 series, margins rough.

Flowers:

Ray florets fewer than 20, 1/4 to 1/3 inch long, yellow; disk florets about 1/4 inch long, corollas yellow.

Fruits:

Achenes, slightly flattened, tipped with outer series of small, bristle-like scales and inner series of numerous hair-like bristles, enclosing small seed.

Habitat:

Open, sandy or gravelly upland sites and rocky outcrops.

Distribution:

Principally central 1/3 of Kansas.

Uses:

The Cheyenne boiled the tops and stems and used the resulting extract as a sedative to aid sleep.

Comments:

Forms colonies by rhizomes. This is not a true aster; asters never have yellow ray florets.

Hairy golden aster