Eastern Showy Aster
Eurybia spectabilis (Ait.) G.L. Nesom is native to mostly sandy soils, sometimes dry clay, granite outcrops, dry, oak-pine woods, pine barrens, peat bogs, borders of woods, clearings, fields, roadsides on the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Massachusetts south to North Carolina where the range turns southwest to the Piedmont in South Carolina, Georgia and northeastern Alabama (Brouillet 2006 FNA). It also occurs in disjunct populations on the outer Coastal Plain in South Carolina. The species was first described as Aster spectabilis Ait. The species is distinguished from similar species by it large heads with squarrose densely stipitate-glandular phyllaries. The species is of conservation concern through its range. The species is octaploid 2n=72.
Hybrids with E. macrophylla occur and have been name E. ×herveyi (Brouillet 2006 FNA).
1-5. Eurybia spectabilis. 1. Plants on road embankment, Semple 11626, Hertford Co., North Carolina. 2. Flowering shoots, Massachusetts. 3. Pollinator visiting flowers, S 11626. 4. Involucre and florets, Massachusetts. 5. Ray and disc florets, Massachusetts.
Last updated 30 March 2025 by J.C. Semple
© 2025 J.C. Semple, including all photographs unless otherwise indicated