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Aster (flower)
Many, see text.
The genus Aster includes some 600 species of widely distributed flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. Aster comes from Greek word for "star", and refers to the shape of the flower head. Many of the species are popular garden plants because of their showy flower heads. The flowers of the Sea Aster (A. tripolium) are eaten by the larva of the Wormwood Pug moth. The larvae of other Lepidoptera including Flame Shoulder and Hummingbird Hawk-moth sometimes eat the foliage of asters. The leaf-mining larvae of some bucculatricid moths feed exclusively on asters: these include Bucculatrix cuneigera (which feeds on Aster shortii), Bucculatrix errans, Bucculatrix maritima (which feeds on Aster tripolium) and Bucculatrix sexnotata. Bucculatrix angustata is a polyphagous species which has been recorded on Aster.
The genus Aster is now generally restricted to the Old World species, with Aster amellus being the type species of the genus (and of the family Asteraceae). The New World species have now been reclassified in the genera Almutaster, Canadanthus, Doellingeria, Eucephalus, Eurybia, Ionactis, Oligoneuron, Oreostemma, Sericocarpus and Symphyotrichum (see : List of Aster synonyms), but are still widely referred to as "Asters" in the horticultural trades.
Some common species are:
- Aster alpinus
- Aster amellus (European Michaelmas Daisy or Italian Aster)
- Aster cordifolius (Blue Wood Aster)
- Aster divaricatus (White Wood Aster)
- Aster ericoides (Heath Aster)
- Aster laevis
- Aster lateriflorus
- Aster novae-angliae (New England Aster)
- Aster novi-belgii (New York Aster)
- Aster pilosus (Frost Aster)
- Aster pringlei
- Aster sibericus
- Aster tataricus
- Aster tongolensis
- Aster tripolium (Sea Aster)
The China aster is in a related genus, Callistephus.
New York Aster (Aster novi-belgii)
Aster tongolensis
Heath aster (Aster ericoides)
Asters come in many different colors and varieties
Category: Asteraceae
Other related archivesAster novae-angliae, Asteraceae, Callistephus, Eurybia, Flame Shoulder, Greek, Hummingbird Hawk-moth, Ionactis, Lepidoptera, List of Aster synonyms, Oligoneuron, Wormwood Pug, bucculatricid, flowering plants, head, larva, moth, polyphagous, type species
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Aster flower", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
