Grass-leaved prairie aster –Eurybia hemispherica
In mid-October, two species of aster were blooming at the Watson Rare Native Plant Preserve near Warren, Texas. The native perennial Eurybia hemispherica, also known as the southern prairie aster, occurs primarily in the eastern part of Texas in sandy to rocky, mesic, or dry soils of upland prairies and open woodlands.
The genus name Eurybia, from the Greek eurys meaning ‘wide’ and baios meaning ‘few,’ may refer to the shape and number of the the plant’s ray florets. The specific epithet hemispherica refers to the shape of the involucre, or whorl of bracts, beneath the inch to inch-and-a-half wide lavender flowerheads.
The grass-leaved prairie aster’s bloom period extends from August into November. Its large flowerheads, in combination with its leaves and stems, help to distinguish it from asters in the Symphyotrichum genus.
A closer look at the interesting bracts
Another larger aster found in Texas, the barrens silky aster, does belong to the the Symphyotrichum family. Blooming from September through November, it can be found on prairies and in oak woodlands, as well as in pine-oak scrub, fields, and roadsides.
Barrens silky aster ~ Symphyotrichum pratense
Distinguishing characteristics of the silky aster include appressed leaves, which often appear whitish because of a covering of fine, appressed hairs. Like the southern or grass-leaved aster, its blue-to-purple color and larger flower heads make it a lovely addition to the multitude of much smaller white, pink, and lavender asters that fill our autumn landscapes.
Lagniappe 
If the upper part of the petals in the first photo were red instead, it’d be a traffic-light flower head.
What a great thought, Liz. I must have imagined the lavender as red, because these flowers certainly stopped me in my tracks.
Ha ha ha .. nice one!
Autumn without an aster / Would be a floral disaster.
The species name pratense is the adjective corresponding to Latin prāta, which meant ‘meadow.’ The pra in prairie likewise goes back to Latin prāta.
No more envy of our northeastern friends and their Aster novae-angliae. These are equally lovely, and even a little splashy.
Your etymological note brought to mind one of our historic towns: Praha. I wondered about that name, and found in a Wiki entry that the Czech name Praha is derived from the Slavic word práh, which means ‘ford’ or ‘rapid,’ perhaps a reference to Prague’s origin at a crossing point of the Vltava river.
Whether práh and pra share linguistic roots I can’t say (I suspect not), but this note intrigued me: “Another view to the origin of the name is related to the Czech word práh (with the meaning of a threshold) and a legendary etymology connects the name of the city with princess Libuše, prophetess and a wife of mythical founder of the Přemyslid dynasty. She is said to have ordered the city “to be built where a man hews a threshold of his house.” I can imagine that suiting the immigrants who established one of the earliest Czech settlements in Texas, hewing the thresholds of their houses on the prairie.
Wiktionary says the Slavic word that means ‘threshold’ came from Proto-Slavic *porgъ, so as you surmised there doesn’t seem to be a connection to the Latin word. What the Latin word is related to is the famous art museum in Madrid: “In 1868, the museum was nationalized and took on the new name of ‘Museo del Prado,’ meaning ‘museum of the meadow,’ in reference to the wild field that had previously occupied the area of the museum.”
A flower that knows how unusual its coloring is being the diva: these always arrive late – in order to get the most attention? (Their choice of yellow/gold is perfect to accent the purple)
Nice pix
The combination of purple and gold certainly typifies our autumn. Sometimes it appears in separate plants, like beautyberry and goldenrod, but in combinations like this, it’s even more appealing. The tiny lavender asters filling lawns right now are cute, but these are scene-stealers.
The colors of these flowers are soothing and make me want to slow down and just stare at them. Your photos are lovely.
It didn’t occur to me until just now that the grass-leaved prairie aster is a perfect representation of Mardi Gras colors: green, purple, and gold. It’s too bad that it doesn’t bloom in the spring. On the other hand, I’m glad that it’s around to add that soothing, yet rich, color to autumn’s slow decline.
I learned about the word appressed.
I didn’t learn that word until a few months ago. Since then, of course, I’ve seen it quite often. It’s a word-version of a familiar phenomenon; the same thing happens when I learn a new flower, and then it seems to be everywhere. It was fun to have a chance to use the word here.
These are all beauties and they make me think that a flower-filled prairie must be a wonderful sight.
It certainly is, although fall prairie grasses can be equally beautiful. I was pleased to find some of our lavender-blue native Lobelia beginning to bloom, as well as these asters. Much seemed to be off-kilter this year: probably because of the heat and the drought. With more rain in the forecast, there may be a chance for some other nice discoveries in the next few weeks.
Wishing you some happy discoveries.
All are lovely, but I think the grass-leaved prairie aster is my favorite – that radiant color is striking. I had no idea there are so many kinds of asters. My husband was all excited yesterday, having found “little daisies” in our lawn – yep, some kind of tiny white aster hitched a ride in with a mockingbird or cardinal, I suspect. I’ve bookmarked the Watson Preserve for future exploration, thanks!
I suspect those asters your husband found might have been these, or something closely related. In the past week, they’ve begun popping up everywhere; I’ve noticed them at the marinas, in my yard, and even alongside our roads. I’ve heard them called roadside asters and lawn asters, and I suspect their seeds spread by wind, although I’m not sure about that.
The Watson Preserve sends out a monthly newsletter. You can sign up here for that.
So pretty, I expect seeing those dots of purple amongst the dried grasses is a beautiful sight.
They are pretty. They remind me of your New England asters. I’d never looked those up on the distribution maps. When I did, I discovered that not one county in Texas lists them as present, so I’m glad I found these.
Those are gorgeous! And I’m sorry I haven’t been commenting lately, it took me a while to figure out that I now have to “choose a block” in order to comment. Don’t ask me why….Gotta love WordPress. Not!!!!
I’m not at all impressed with this new commenting system, but what to do? It does seem as though the paragraph block, once selected, will continue to hold through other comments. I’ve found some other glitches; for example, if I edit a comment, I lose the paragraph breaks, but I’ve talked to WP about that. I’m sure it’s a coding issue they can attend to on the back end.
There are two bits of good news, though: you managed to get here, and you like the flowers! I’m glad for both!
I like the first photograph particularly. It’s the side and back of the flower and a view we don’t usually see with flowers.
That’s my favorite as well. The bracts are so interesting I wanted to find a way to highlight them, and that view worked nicely. The bit of backlighting added to the appeal, I think.
I find asters especially lovely and their bright color a welcome one in the fall. The centers are especially interesting to me.
‘Aster’ comes from the Greek word for ‘star,’ and they certainly are stars in the garden or the landscape. While the flowers as a whole are star-like, if you look closely at the barrens silky aster, you can see the star-like opening that is forming in one of its disk flowers. I love those little stars nearly as much as the whole flower.
Linda, these are so lovely. I’ve probably told you before, but Asters are special for me — they’re my September birth month flower! Thanks for the distinction between these two varieties.
I can’t think of a prettier birth month flower. There’s such a variety of asters: big, little, white, purple — and blue, one of your favorite colors. Finding these was special. I saw the prairie aster last year, but couldn’t identify it. This year I did; they were so pretty I wanted to share them, but it’s always good to know a name if you’re going to do a proper introduction!
I read that asters serve as inspiration for painters and writers — sounds good to me!!
These certainly inspired me — do you happen to grow asters around your home? Wouldn’t it be fun if we discovered there was an etheree-specific aster?
Anything which adds such lovely colors to the landscape is to be applauded.
It is amazing how many flowers are part of the Aster family. The blooms you have highlighted today are truly stars of that huge family tree. The bracts of the prairie aster really are quite unique. It adds another dimension to an already attractive bloom.
We see these blue-violet colors in some of our local aster representatives. I am forced to catalogue each and every one as SOMEONE in our group (of two) happens to have a favorite color. I am only too happy to oblige.
Those bracts are stylish, aren’t they? I was fascinated by them, and pleased that I was able to get a photo that shows them fairly well.
Thinking about Gini’s favorite color brought to mind your comment about her liking blue and white combinations. In turn, that reminded me that I have a photo of these from a year or more ago; it also was taken at Watson, but shows the asters growing in combination with a pretty little white flower. What’s amusing is that, in that post, I identified the prairie aster as Symphyotrichum spp. It’s time to do my part to clean up misinformation on the interwebs!
I just remembered something: that bracts are modified leaves. One of the neat things about the first photo is the way it shows the relationship between the stem leaves and the bracts.
Nice to see a couple of your autumn asters. Of course ours are long gone but they are always something to anticipate. We planted a couple of New England Asters here in the yard and they had a great year. One grew to almost 8 feet tall and close to that in its spread.
I went back and looked at some of your photos of New England asters, and noticed something in this photo. The bracts look similar to those on the Eurybia hemispherica — very interesting.
The thought of eight foot tall asters is really something. Most of those I see have smaller flowers and a much smaller spread, but that color is equally intense.
Hiding my face in shame…I was confusing plants. It is our New York Ironweed that is 8 feet tall, not the asters.
That happens to us all. Remember my confusion of mangrove leaves with beach morning glory? That required an entire post to clear up my confusion!
my fall asters are blooming but they are white. sometimes they show a very pale lavender.
I’ve noticed those tiny ones that spread through the lawns running rampant just now. They’re white or lavender, too — but no matter the size or color, they’re all such fun to see. I’m noticing buttercups, oxalis, and crow poison blooming again, too. It does seem like a second spring, and once these lovely days of rain have finished, there’s no telling what will take advantage of the moisture.
That first photo is so gorgeous with the soft light, the beautiful color, the lovely patterned background. Very, very nice.
Thanks so much, Todd. The background reminds me of the sponge painting that was so much in vogue for walls a decade or so ago. I was trying to avoid a totally blurred background, while keeping the emphasis on the details of the flowers, so I was really pleased with the way it came out.
I really like the first photo, Linda, with its almost see-through, ethereal quality.
It does have the feel of looking at the world through a gauze curtain, doesn’t it? I messed around for a while hoping for a nice background, and this time I got it. I’m glad you like it!
Artistic!
Beautiful post.
Thank you so much. I’m glad you found it beautiful; that was my feeling when I first saw the flowers.
Purple and gold — a regal color scheme. I wonder how many of them would fit in Mrs. Astor’s ballroom?
I couldn’t guess at the quantity, but I’m sure they would improve the quality of the decorations!
An often mentioned (in crossword puzzles) and rarely seen beauty.
Which shows up in crosswords: ‘aster,’ or ‘Eurybia’? or something else? You’ve reminded me that I haven’t done a crossword puzzle in years. We used to do them in the car on family vacations. I always assumed it was normal for families to set off on travels with a dictionary and thesaurus onboard.
Aster is what I see. Maybe Eurybia might show up in the NY Times Friday or Saturday, but that’s too hard for my feeble skills.
I’ve attempted the NY Times puzzles in the past, but usually gave up after about a dozen words. I’m not sure I ever could have completed one.
The Times puzzle difficulty varies by day. Mondays are the easiest, and they get harder as the week goes on. By the time Thursday rolls around, it becomes kind of pointless for me…
What beauties they are!xxx
Asters of every sort appeal to me, but these, with their larger size and delicate colors, are special treats. I’m glad you enjoyed seeing them!