Dieteria canescens (Canescent Aster) - photos and description
Looking
straight down on plant
General: A low biennial with a branching growth habit. Foliage puberulent giving it a greyish-green colour.
Flowers: Flowers in an open panicle, flower heads measured at 16 mm diameter, the rays violet in colour. Involucre imbricate, involucre measured at 6 mm tall.
Leaves: Leaves alternate, linear to spatulate, alternate, entire, sessile. Leaf highlighted in photo above was 28 mm long and 4 mm wide.
Height: Height listed in Budd's Flora to 30 cm.
Habitat: Clay badlands.
Abundance: Common.
Origin: Native.
Synonym: Listed in various guides we use as Machaeranthera canescens, and as Aster canescens.
When and where photographed: The above photos were taken July 26th clay butte, badlands, East Block Grasslands National Park, about 300 km southwest of our home in Regina, SK.