Eastern or Florida Goldenasters
Chrysopsis (Nutt.) Ell. includes all the goldenasters that have flagelliform hairs with one to several large basal cells and several long thin end cells (Semple 2006 FNA). Ray florets are bright yellow. The pappus is triple or quadruple (Semple 2006) and the fruit body sometimes has reddish brown translucent ridges. All nine species are herbaceous perennials native to Florida (seven species have x=5 and are diploid (2n=10). Two species (both polyploids) also occur in other parts of the southeastern United States (C. mariana an x=4 species with diploid (2n=8), tetraploid (2n=16), hexaploid (2n=24), and octoploid (2n=32); and C. gossypina, an allopolyploid (2n=18). Semple (1981) monographed the genus, but several new species were described subsequently (Delaney & Wunderlin 2002; Delaney et al. 2003). Chrysopsis pilosa was transferred to Bradburia (Semple 1996). Recent DNA work indicates that Chrysospsis is monophyletic and closely related to Bradburia (Brouillet et al. 2009). The treatment here follows Flora North America (Semple 2006).
- Chrysopsis delaneyi R.P. Wunderlin & Semple
- Chrysopsis floridana Small
- Chrysopsis godfreyi Semple
- f. godfreyi
- f. viridis Semple
- Chrysopsis gossypina (Michx.) Ell.
- ssp. cruiseana (Dress) Semple
- ssp. gossypina
- f. gossypina
- f. decumbens (Chapman) Godfrey
- f. trichophylla (Nutt.) Semple
- ssp. hyssopifolia (Nutt.) Semple
- Chrysopsis highlandsensis K.R. Delaney & R.P. Wunderlin
- Chrysopsis lanuginosa Small
- Chrysopsis latisquamea Pollard
- Chrysopsis linearifolia Semple
- Chrysopsis linearifolia ssp. dressii Semple
- Chrysopsis linearifolia ssp. linearifolia
- Chrysopsis mariana (L.) Ell.
- Chrysopsis scabrella Torr. & A. Gray
- Chrysopsis subulata Small
Last revised 19 April 2025 by J.C. Semple
© 2025 J.C. Semple, including all photographs unless otherwise indicated
1-4. Chrysopsis. 1. Inflorescence, Chrysopsis highlandsensis. 2. Basal leaves. 3. Karyotypes. 4. Distribution map.
Semple, J.C. 1981. A revision of the goldenaster genus Chrysopsis (Nutt.) Ell. nom. cons. (Compositae-Astereae). Rhodora 83: 323-384.
DeLaney, K.R. and R. P. Wunderlin. 2002. A new species of Chrysopsis (Asteraceae, Astereae) from central Florida. Botanical Explorer 2: 1-20.
DeLaney, K.R., R. P. Wunderlin and J.C. Semple. 2003. Chrysopsis delaneyi (Asteraceae, Astereae), another new species from peninsular Florida. Botanical Explorer 3: 1-40.
Semple, J.C. 2006. Chrysopsis (Nuttall) Elliott. pp. 213-221. In Flora North America Editorial Committee, eds. Flora of North America. Vol. 20. Asteraceae, Part 2. Astereae and Senecioneae. Oxford University Press, New York.