Silky Aster, Western silver aster, Symphyotrichum sericeum (Vent.), Native Minnesota Wildflower plant, Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

	Plants of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
	Common Name	Scientific Name	Plant Family	Garden Location	Prime Season
	Western Silver Aster	Symphyotrichum sericeum (Vent.) G.L. Nesom	Aster	Upland	Late Summer to Autumn
Other names and notes	(Silky Aster). One of the full sun asters in the Upland Garden, this is a short plant, up to two feet high with profuse lavender to pale blue blooms in loose clusters, 15 to 25 rays per flower head which are up to one inch wide. The common names come from the distinctive leaves which are pale greenish, silky and of a silvery tint, with smooth edges. It is not a tall aster, usually from under a foot to two feet high. An aster of sunny dry locations. Botanists have recently reclassified the plant from Aster sericeus Vent.


Above: The beautiful blooms. Below - the distinctive leaves

Notes: Eloise Butler recorded introducing this plant to the Garden in 1907 from a source in Mahtomedi and again in 1908, same source. At that time the accepted botanical name was Aster sericeus. This plant was listed on Martha Crone's 1951 inventory of plants in the Garden at that time. The plant is native to many counties in Minnesota except in the NE quadrant.

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References: Plant characteristics are generally from sources 15, 16, 30, 31, 33, W2 & W3. Distribution principally from W2 and also 31, 34 and W1. Planting history generally from 1, 4 & 4a. Other sources by specific reference. See Reference List for details.

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