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Symphyotrichum cordifolium (L.) G.L. Nesom

Heart-leaved aster, broad-leaved aster, common blue wood aster

Heart-leaved asters are North American natives.

Plants: Plants are 6–48″ (15–121 cm) high, with mostly hairless stems below the flowerheads. Stems are green, reddening with age.

Leaves: Leaves are alternate, on petioles (stalks). They are 1½–6″ (3.8–15 cm) long, heart-shaped with deeply cleft bases, pointed, sharply toothed, rough on top, hairy on the underside.

Flowers: Flowerheads are in the shape of panicles, roughly cone-shaped. Individual flowers are ½–¾″ (1.5–1.9 cm) in diameter, with 8-20 (usually 10-16) blue to blue-purple ray petals. Sometimes they are pale, almost white. The central disc flowers are yellow, reddening with age. They appear from August to November.

Fruits: Seed heads have tufts of light brown to pinkish hairs, distributed by wind. The seeds are light brown to purplish, up to 1/16″ (2.5 mm) long, and angled.

Habitats: Woods, clearings, forest edges, meadows, fields, disturbed soil.

See our aster comparison table here.

Online References:

The Plants of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

The Missouri Botanical Garden

Ontario Wildflowers

Flora of North America

References:

Clemants, Steven; Gracie, Carol, Wildflowers in the Field and Forest, Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 18

Newcomb, Lawrence, Morrison, Gordon (Illus.), Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide, Little, Brown and Company, 1977, p. 454

Peterson, Roger Tory, McKenny, Margaret, Peterson Field Guides: Wildflowers—Northeastern and North Central North America, Houghton Mifflin, 1968, p. 354

Aster cordifolius L.
Aster cordifolius L. var. furbishiae Fernald
Aster cordifolius L. var. incisus Britton
Aster cordifolius L. var. lanceolatus Porter
Aster cordifolius L. var. moratus (Shinners) Shinners
Aster cordifolius L. var. polycephalus Porter
Aster cordifolius L. var. racemiflorus Fernald
Aster cordifolius L. var. sagittifolius (Wedemeyer ex Willd.) A.G. Jones
Aster cordifolius L. ssp. sagittifolius (Wedemeyer ex Willd.) A.G. Jones
Aster finkii Rydb. var. moratus Shinners
Aster lowrieanus Porter var. incisus (Britton) Porter
Aster lowrieanus Porter var. lanceolatus Porter
Aster plumarius Burgess
Aster sagittifolius Wedemeyer ex Willd.
Symphyotrichum cordifolium (L.) G.L. Nesom var. furbishiae (Fernald) G.L. Nesom
Symphyotrichum cordifolium (L.) G.L. Nesom var. lanceolatum (Porter) G.L. Nesom
Symphyotrichum cordifolium (L.) G.L. Nesom var. moratum (Shinners) G.L. Nesom
Symphyotrichum cordifolium (L.) G.L. Nesom var. polycephalum (Porter) G.L. Nesom
Symphyotrichum cordifolium (L.) G.L. Nesom var. racemiflorum (Fernald) G.L. Nesom
Symphyotrichum sagittifolium (Wedemeyer ex Willd.) G.L. Nesom

 

Symphyotrichum cordifolium (heart-leaved aster, broad-leaved aster, common blue wood aster)

9/15/2012 · Mt. Wachusett, Princeton, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 7 × 6″ (16 × 14 cm)

Symphyotrichum cordifolium (heart-leaved aster, broad-leaved aster, common blue wood aster)

10/5/2013 · Nashua River Rail Trail, East Pepperell, Pepperell, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 8 × 6″ (20 × 14 cm)

Symphyotrichum cordifolium (heart-leaved aster, broad-leaved aster, common blue wood aster)

8/28/2013 · Pearl Hill State Park, Townsend, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 9 × 6″ (23 × 16 cm)

Symphyotrichum cordifolium (heart-leaved aster, broad-leaved aster, common blue wood aster)

9/24/2013 · Squannacook River Wildlife Area, Townsend, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 8 × 6″ (20 × 14 cm) ID is uncertain

Symphyotrichum cordifolium (heart-leaved aster, broad-leaved aster, common blue wood aster)

9/25/2010 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Groton Center, Groton, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 6 × 7″ (14 × 17 cm)

Symphyotrichum cordifolium (heart-leaved aster, broad-leaved aster, common blue wood aster)

9/30/2013 · Moose Point State Park, Searsport, Maine · ≈ 8 × 6″ (20 × 15 cm)

Symphyotrichum cordifolium (heart-leaved aster, broad-leaved aster, common blue wood aster)

8/28/2013 · Pearl Hill State Park, Townsend, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 11 × 7″ (28 × 18 cm)

Symphyotrichum cordifolium (heart-leaved aster, broad-leaved aster, common blue wood aster)

9/18/2013 · Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Hollis, New Hamp­shire · ≈ 4½ × 7″ (12 × 18 cm) ID is uncertain

Symphyotrichum cordifolium (heart-leaved aster, broad-leaved aster, common blue wood aster)

8/28/2013 · Pearl Hill State Park, Townsend, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 11 × 7″ (28 × 18 cm)

Symphyotrichum cordifolium (heart-leaved aster, broad-leaved aster, common blue wood aster)

9/25/2010 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Groton Center, Groton, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 4½ × 6″ (11 × 15 cm)

Symphyotrichum cordifolium (heart-leaved aster, broad-leaved aster, common blue wood aster)

9/15/2012 · Mt. Wachusett, Princeton, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 7 × 9″ (18 × 24 cm)

Symphyotrichum cordifolium (heart-leaved aster, broad-leaved aster, common blue wood aster)

9/10/2016 · Worcester Road Trail, Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Hollis, New Hamp­shire

Symphyotrichum cordifolium (heart-leaved aster, broad-leaved aster, common blue wood aster)

9/15/2012 · Mt. Wachusett, Princeton, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 8 × 5″ (19 × 13 cm)

Symphyotrichum cordifolium (heart-leaved aster, broad-leaved aster, common blue wood aster)

9/15/2012 · Mt. Wachusett, Princeton, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 8 × 5″ (19 × 13 cm)

Symphyotrichum cordifolium (heart-leaved aster, broad-leaved aster, common blue wood aster)

9/10/2016 · Worcester Road Trail, Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Hollis, New Hamp­shire

Symphyotrichum cordifolium (heart-leaved aster, broad-leaved aster, common blue wood aster)

9/30/2013 · Moose Point State Park, Searsport, Maine · ≈ 8 × 5″ (19 × 13 cm)

Symphyotrichum cordifolium (heart-leaved aster, broad-leaved aster, common blue wood aster)

9/24/2013 · Squannacook River Wildlife Area, Townsend, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 7 × 5″ (17 × 12 cm) ID is uncertain

Symphyotrichum cordifolium (heart-leaved aster, broad-leaved aster, common blue wood aster)

9/25/2010 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Groton Center, Groton, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 6 × 9″ (14 × 22 cm)

Symphyotrichum cordifolium (heart-leaved aster, broad-leaved aster, common blue wood aster)

10/5/2013 · Nashua River Rail Trail, East Pepperell, Pepperell, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 4½ × 4″ (11 × 11 cm)

Symphyotrichum cordifolium (heart-leaved aster, broad-leaved aster, common blue wood aster)

10/5/2013 · Nashua River Rail Trail, East Pepperell, Pepperell, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 6 × 4½″ (14 × 12 cm)

KingdomPlantaePlants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin)
SubkingdomTracheobiontaVascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
DivisionMagnoliophytaFlowering plants, also known as angiosperms
ClassMagnoliopsidaDicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
SubclassAsteridaeA large class that encompasses asters
OrderAsteralesFlowering plants with a central disk flower and surrounding petals, like daisies
FamilyAsteraceaeThe aster family, which also includes daisies and sunflowers; from the Greek ἀστήρ, “star,” for the star-shaped flowers
GenusSymphyotrichumFrom Greek symphysis, “borne together or growing together, coalescing,” and trichinos, “hair, a single hair”
SpeciescordifoliumLatin for “heart-shaped leaves”

About plant names...

Range: Zones 3-8:

About this map...

Symphyotrichum cordifolium description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.

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