Doellingeria umbellata (Flat-Topped White Aster) - photos and description

 

 

 

 

 

General: Tall plants, with unbranched, leafy stems, and a flat-topped inflorescence. Stems pubescent.

Flowers: Flowers have white ray florets and pale yellow disk florets, are corymbose, flower heads measured at 2 cm diameter.

Leaves: Leaves alternate, lanceolate, entire, having short petioles. Leaf highlighted in photo above was measured at 10.5 cm long and 31 mm wide. Top and bottom of leaves with short hairs.

Height: Height listed in Budd's Flora to 200 cm. We measured plants to 130 cm tall.

Habitat: Moist woodlands, and swampy sites.

Abundance: Very rare, ranked as an S2 (as of 2021) by the Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre.

Origin: Native.

Synonym: Listed in some of the field guides we use as Aster umellatus.

When and where photographed: These photos were taken August 8th, wet ditch along a forest road, Hudson Bay district, about 450 km north-east of our home in Regina, SK.