''Ionactis linariifolia'' also known as the flax-leaf ankle-aster, flaxleaf whitetop or simply aster is a North American species of plants in the family

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

. ''Ionactis linariifolia'' grows across much of eastern and central North America from

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

north as far as

Québec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

and

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

, and west to extreme eastern

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. It is found in a variety of habitats such as moist sites, oak pine woods, ridges, and bluffs. ''Ionactis linariifolia'' is an herb up to 70 cm (28 inches) tall. Leaves are green, long and narrow, up to 4 cm (1.6 inches) long. The plant usually produces several flower heads in a flat-topped array. Each head has blue, white, or violet ray flowers surrounding numerous yellow disc flowers. It was initially classified by Carolus Linnaeus as ''Aster linariifolius'', known as the stiff-leafed

aster Aster or ASTER may refer to: Biology * ''Aster'' (genus), a genus of flowering plants ** List of ''Aster'' synonyms, other genera formerly included in ''Aster'' and still called asters in English * Aster (cell biology), a cellular structure shap ...

. ''Ionactis'' was classified as a separate genus by

Edward Lee Greene Edward Lee Greene (August 20, 1843–November 10, 1915) was an American botanist known for his numerous publications including the two-part ''Landmarks of Botanical History'' and the describing of over 4,400 species of plants in the American W ...

in 1897.Greene, Edward Lee. 1897. Pittonia 3(17C): 245–246
/ref> Ionactis linariifolia illustration

References

photo of herbarium specimen at Missouri Botanical Garden, collected in Missouri in 1991
Astereae Flora of the United States Flora of Canada Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Astereae-stub