Symphyotrichum fontinale

Florida Water Aster

Symphyotrichum fontinale (Alexander) G.L. Nesom is native to moist, sometimes peaty soils, marshes, sandhills, hammocks, flood plains, ditch banks, rocky bluffs along streams of the western side of Peninsula Florida  and rarely in southwestern Georgia (Brouillet et al. 2006; SERNEC).  The species is distinguished by its lower stem leaves not constricted toward the base and upper leaves that are lanceolate or oblanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, bases cuneate to rounded, subclasping, with acute or acuminate, subspinulose apices, 6–7.6 mm high involucres, pale violet rays, and fruit bodies that are sparsely strigillose to nearly hairless. The species is most similar to Symphyotrichum estesii, native to May Prairie, Coffee Co., Tennessee. The species is a decaploid with x=5 (2n=50).

The species is of conservation concern.

Symphyotrichum fontinale has been considered to be conspecific with S. patens or S. dumosum of subg. Symphyotrichum (A. Cronquist 1980). It fits well into sect. Grandiflori of subg. Virgulus.