Aster seeds
A stem of heath aster seeds and filaments, the same aster as the last post:
This stem caught my eye because each cluster was still intact, the wind hasn’t done its part yet. There’s a lot of beauty in this stage, and the later stages as the seeds disperse and reveal the sepals and innards of the flower.
Just posted similar but not sure about species. Mine are tall enough to be Symphyotrichum novae-angliae but I did not see mine during flowering season and the stems were in rough condition. Nice job getting them all in focus.
These weren’t New England Aster, I’m pretty sure. Thanks, Steve!
I wasn’t suggesting that they were, Tom. To me they all look the same when they are in seed. I have Heath Asters growing along the edge of our yard and they look similar to both yours and mine. I am not botanically educated enough to tell them apart like this. I do have this book which gave me the idea for which I had.
I didn’t think you were suggesting that – but come to think of it, I know of a New England aster patch where I can check. And perhaps there’s a photo of this phase at the Native Plant Trust (the Go Botany pages). I’m not botanically educated myself :), at least not from classrooms.
There is a picture on GB but they all look the same to me. 🙂 I have a difficult time as it is when they are flowering. I have the GB app on my phone but it never seems to work in the field…at least not the fields I frequent.
I didn’t know the was a Go Botany phone app, I just use the key or descriptions on the web page. You can ask a botanist to ID a plant there, post a picture.
As a member I should take advantage of the ID help. The phone app has the key.
I like your uncommon use of innards to refer to the inner parts of a flower. The heath aster is a species that Austin shares with you. As the previous Steve said, you did a good job getting all the seed heads simultaneously in focus.
The informality of “innards” spared me from looking up the botanical terms for those parts 🙂
Now that we’ve passed Thanksgiving, my mind’s inclining toward Christmas, and I saw this as a delightful, almost perfectly formed Christmas tree of sorts. Move over Pinus — the asters are ready to give you a run for your money.
I was taken by how intact the filaments were – like Christmas ornaments.
This is pretty. 🙂
Thanks, David!