New England Aster
Growth Habit
HerbaceousPropagation
Seed Treatment and Storage: store seed cool & dry; cold/moist stratify OR sow at 70 deg. F.
Biocultural Value
The Haudenosaunee and Cherokee used a New England Aster infusion to treat fevers. The Meskwaki and Potawatomi burned a smudge of the plant to revive unconscious patients. The Chippewa smoked the roots in pipes to attract game.
Wildlife Value
New England aster is a larval host plant for the pearl crescent butterfly (Phyciodes tharos) and the Canadian conia moth (Sonia canadana). A specialist mining bee, Andrena simplex, collects pollen only from New England aster and related plants in the Asteraceae. Additional floral visitors include small carpenter bees (Ceratina spp.), leafcutter bees (Megachile spp.), bumble bees (Bombus spp.), long-horned bees (Melissodes spp.), cuckoo bees (Triepeolus spp.). and green sweat bees (Agapostemon spp.). Other wildlife use asters to a limited degree. Ruffed grouse, wild turkey, and tree sparrows eat the leaves and/or seeds, as do mammals like chipmunks, white-footed mice and white-tailed deer.
Location
Edwards Lake Cliffs Preserve, Fall Creek Gorge, Ringwood Ponds, Mundy Wildflower GardenCultivation
Description
Perennial reaching 6 1/2' in height, from a woody root crown or thick rhizome, sometimes creeping. Stems clustered, the upper part much-branched, hairy, glandular, the lower leaves early deciduous, the others sessile and auriculate-clasping, lanceolate, to 5" long, entire, scabrous, or with stiff hairs above, and softer hairs beneath. Flowers heads to 2" across, crowded towards the ends of the branches in corymbose clusters, ray flowers usually deep violet-purple, but variable.
Source of plant
Krissy Boys, Gradina Botanica A Institutului Agronomic
