New England aster

New England aster is a clump-forming perennial and herbaceous plant. Usually it is between 30 and 120 centimeters (1 and 4 feet) tall and 60 to 90 cm (2 to 3 ft) wide. Sometimes it can reach heights of 180 to 240 cm (6 to 8 ft). It is cespitose, growing in clumps with several erect stems emerging from a single point. The stems are stout and mostly unbranched. The upper stems and leaves, along with some parts of the flower heads, are covered with tiny glands on tiny stalks called "stipitate glands".

Roots, stems, and leaves. The roots either come from caudices or short rhizomes and are thick, appearing woody, sometimes with cormoid portions. There are usually from one to five strong, erect, hairy stems growing from the root base. These can be brown or purplish in color, and largely stipitate-glandular higher up.

Symphyotrichum novae-angliae has light to dark green, thin, and often stiff alternate and simple leaves. These occur at the base, on stems, and on the flower head branches which all have generally the same lanceolate appearance regardless of their location on the plant. The exception to this is the basal (ground level) leaves, which are usually spatulate or sometimes oblanceolate in shape. …

S. novae-angliae is found in a wide variety of open, typically moist habitats, including meadows, prairies, marshes, fens, forest edges, and disturbed anthropogenic sites, such as roadsides and former agricultural fields. In its native habitat, it grows primarily in moist calcareous soils, favoring more marshy-wet sites in the western-most of its range. It is categorized on the United States National Wetland Plant List (NWPL) with the Wetland indicator status rating of Facultative Wetland (FACW) in all wetland regions, meaning it usually occurs in wetlands, but not out of necessity. For example, in one northern location, the Niagara Peninsula in southern Ontario, it was found to grow in dry and sandy soils. It grows best in soils with a pH of 5–7.

Symphyotrichum novae-angliae has coefficients of conservatism (C-values) in the Floristic Quality Assessment (FQA) that range from 0 to 8 depending on evaluation region. The higher the C-value, the lower tolerance the species has for disturbance and the greater the likelihood that it is growing in a presettlement natural community. In the Dakotas, for example, S. novae-angliae has a C-value of 8, meaning its populations there are found in high-quality remnant natural areas with little environmental degradation but can tolerate some periodic disturbance. In contrast, for the Atlantic coastal pine barrens of Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island, it has been given a C-value of 1, meaning its presence in locations of that ecoregion provides little or no confidence of a remnant habitat.

Reproduction. Symphyotrichum novae-angliae reproduces sexually via wind-dispersed seeds and asexually (vegetatively) via short rhizomes. The species is largely incapable of self-pollination and requires cross-pollination for seed production. The ray florets of species in the Symphyotrichum genus are exclusively female, each having a pistil but no stamen, while disk florets are androgynous, each with both male and female reproductive parts.

Pollinators and food-seekers. The seeds of S. novae-angliae are an important fall and winter food source for songbirds. …

Symphyotrichum novae-angliae has been used for various medicinal purposes. In his 1828 Medical Flora, French botanist Constantine Samuel Rafinesque wrote the following about its use to treat skin eruptions, including urushiol-induced contact dermatitis from poison ivy and poison sumac:The A. novanglia is employed in decoction internally, with a strong decoction externally, in many eruptive diseases of the skin: it removes also the poisonous state of the skin caused by Rhus or Shumac. Among Indigenous peoples of North America, it has been documented that the Cherokee have made a poultice of the roots for pain, an infusion of the roots for diarrhea, an infusion of the plant for fever, and have sniffed the ooze from the roots for catarrh. Both the Meskwaki and the Potawatomi have used the plant to revive people: the Meskwaki by smudging, and the Potawatomi through fumigation. The Haudenosaunee have made a decoction of the plant for weak skin and of the roots and leaves for fevers. They have used the plant as a love medicine. The Mohawk people and other Haudenosaunee have used an infusion of the whole plant in combination with rhizomes from another plant to treat mothers with intestinal fevers. The Ojibwe have smoked the root in pipes to attract game.

The species' basionym (original scientific name) is Aster novae-angliae L., and it has many taxonomic synonyms. Its name with author citations is Symphyotrichum novae-angliae (L.) G.L.Nesom. Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, in 1753, formally described what we know today as S. novae-angliae. It is a member of the genus Symphyotrichum classified in the subgenus Virgulus. It has been placed in section Grandiflori, sometimes segregated then within its own subsection Polyligulae. It also has been segregated within its own section Polyliguli. The cladogram shown follows the circumscription of section Polyliguli for the species.

Several varieties and forms have been described, differing in flower color, but these generally are not recognized and are considered taxonomic synonyms of the species. F1 hybridization with S. ericoides can occur where the ranges of these two species overlap. Named Symphyotrichum × amethystinum (amethyst aster), the hybrid is intermediate between the parent species in most respects. No other hybrids with S. novae-angliae have been reported.