WHITE ASTER
File Size: 131 KB
 
Chaetopappa ericoides   (Torr. ) G.L. Nesom
[=Leucelene ericoides  (Torr. ) Greene]
Smoky Valley Ranch, Logan County, Kansas
Perennial
Height: 2 - 8 inches
Family: Asteraceae - Sunflower Family
Flowering Period:   May, June, July
Also Called: Baby-white aster, rose heath aster.
Stems: Erect or spreading, slender, numerous, loosely clustered, branched, stiff-hairy.
Leaves: Alternate, simple, sessile, spatulate below to linear above, up to 3/5 inch long, less than 1/10 inch wide, ascending or pressed against stem, thick; margins entire, often fringed with hairs; uppermost leaves bract-like.
Inflorescences: Heads, solitary, terminal.
Flowers: Heads 1/2 to 3/4 inch wide; bracts lanceolate, in 4-7 series, overlapping; ray florets 12-24, less than 1/4 inch long, white, drying pale rose; tips sometimes curled under; disk florets several, yellow.
Fruits: Achenes, small, flattened, hairy, tipped with numerous rough, white, hair-like bristles, enclosing small seed.
Habitat: Dry open, sandy or gravelly sites and rocky, eroded hillsides.
Distribution: West half of Kansas.
Uses: Native Americans in the Southwest used white aster medicinally to treat snakebites, nose ailments, toothaches, rheumatism, and swellings.
Comments: White aster forms low patches from creeping roots.

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