Eastern or Florida Goldenasters

Chrysopsis flagelliform hairsChrysopsis (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).

The pappus is triple or quadruple (Semple 2006) and the fruit body sometimes has reddish brown translucent ridges.

Chrysopsis achenes

Achenes (shown above) have a quadruple to triple pappus (Semple 2006), some fruit bodies have red-brown translucent ridges.

Distribution of Chrysopsis in North America

All nine species are herbaceous perennials native to Florida (seven species are x = 5 diploids). Two species (both polyploids) also occur in other parts of the southeastern United States (C. mariana an x = 4 species with 2x, 4x, 6x, and 8x races; and C. gossypina, an allopolyploid with x = 9). Semple (1981) monographed the genus, but several new species were described recently (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).


Last update 22 May 2023 by J.C. Semple

© 2023 J.C. Semple, including all photographs unless otherwise indicated