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Montana Field Guide

Montana Field Guides

Subalpine Aster - Eurybia merita
Other Names:  Aster meritus

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Native Species

Global Rank: G5
State Rank: S4
C-value: 4


Agency Status
USFWS:
USFS:
BLM:


 

External Links

 
General Description
Rhizomatous perennial. Stems erect, 15–40 cm. Herbage scabrous to sparsely puberulent. Leaves cauline, stiff, short-petiolate; blades lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, serrulate, 1–8 cm long, sessile above. Inflorescence corymbiform with several heads; peduncles villous. Involucre campanulate, 6–9 mm high; phyllaries lanceolate, ciliate, pubescent; the inner with purple margins. Rays 14 to 32; ligules 7–10 mm long. Disk flowers 30 to 60; corolla 6–8 mm long. Achenes fusiform, 2–4 mm long, sparsely strigose (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

Species Range
Montana Range Range Descriptions

Native
 


Range Comments
BC south to CA, UT and SD (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database
Number of Observations: 27

(Click on the following maps and charts to see full sized version) Map Help and Descriptions
Relative Density

Recency

 

(Observations spanning multiple months or years are excluded from time charts)



Habitat
Sparsely vegetated, stony soil of dry forests; montane, lower subalpine (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

Ecology
POLLINATORS
The following animal species have been reported as pollinators of this plant species or its genus where their geographic ranges overlap: Bombus vagans, Bombus ternarius, and Bombus terricola (Colla and Dumesh 2010).

References
  • Literature Cited AboveLegend:   View Online Publication
    • Colla, S.R. and S. Dumesh. 2010. The bumble bees of southern Ontario: notes on natural history and distribution. Journal of the Entomological Society of Ontario 141:39-68.
    • Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 771 p.
  • Additional ReferencesLegend:   View Online Publication
    Do you know of a citation we're missing?
    • Ament, R.J. 1995. Pioneer Plant Communities Five Years After the 1988 Yellowstone Fires. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 216 p.
    • Fultz, J.E. 2005. Effects of shelterwood management on flower-visiting insects and their floral resources. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 163 p.
    • Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2022. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants, Second Edition. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 779 p.
    • Martin, S.A. 1985. Ecology of the Rock Creek bighorn sheep herd, Beartooth Mountains, Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 152 p.
  • Web Search Engines for Articles on "Subalpine Aster"
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Citation for data on this website:
Subalpine Aster — Eurybia merita.  Montana Field Guide.  .  Retrieved on , from