''Eurybia radula'', commonly known as the low rough aster or rough wood aster, is an herbaceous perennial in the family Asteraceae. It is native to eastern

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

where it is present from Newfoundland and Labrador in the far northeast of Canada, west to Ontario and south to Kentucky and Virginia in the United States. The low rough aster is also present on the French overseas territory of

St. Pierre and Miquelon Saint Pierre and Miquelon (), officially the Territorial Collectivity of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (french: link=no, Collectivité territoriale de Saint-Pierre et Miquelon ), is a self-governing territorial overseas collectivity of France in t ...

just south of Newfoundland. It typically grows in wet soils in a wide variety of habitats from

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...

s and fens to creek shores to ditches. Although it is not considered threatened over most of its distribution, it is imperiled or possibly extirpated over much of its range in the United States. Its flower heads emerge in the late summer to early fall and show pale blue-violet rays with yellow centres.

Taxonomy

One formerly recognised variety, ''Aster radula'' var. ''strictus'' (Pursh) A. Gray, is present in the northern part of its range including Newfoundland and Labrador, northern Quebec and northern Nova Scotia. It differs in being more slender and having only 1 to 8 heads, which is probably a response to the harsh climate. However, it is not commonly recognised due to the range of intermediates that exist from north to south and currently no combination (i.e. with var. ''mercan'') currently exists in '' Eurybia''. The common name rough aster probably stems from a misreading the Latin specific name ''radula'', which actually means scraper. The word for rough is ''radulans'', which is quite similar.

Distribution and habitat

''Eurybia radula'' is present in every province of Canada east of and including Ontario and is also present on the

French territory Overseas France (french: France d'outre-mer) consists of 13 French-administered territories outside Europe, mostly the remains of the French colonial empire that chose to remain a part of the French state under various statuses after decolo ...

. Its northwestern limit is in the northeast of Ontario the south of James Bay where it is rarely found. In the United States it can be found in every state from Maine south to Kentucky and Virginia, though it is not present in Ohio and westward. The species is considered endangered by the states of Connecticut, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. The low rough aster grows in wet soils in a fairly wide variety of habitat. These include very wet locations with widely differing pH values such as in fens and sphagnum bogs. In addition it can be found on the shores of lakes and creeks, in wet meadows and in ditches. While the plant does not tolerate deep shade, it can be found in open boggy woods as well as along the edges and at the openings of wet

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...

and tamarack larch forests. It can be found at elevations varying from sea level to more than 600 metres.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5413959 Flora of Canada Flora of the Eastern United States Plants described in 1789 Taxa named by William Aiton

radula The radula (, ; plural radulae or radulas) is an anatomical structure used by molluscs for feeding, sometimes compared to a tongue. It is a minutely toothed, chitinous ribbon, which is typically used for scraping or cutting food before the food ...