Crookedstem Aster Traditional Cache

The Crookedstem Aster cache will take you for a nice walk near the top of the world. Park before the Buckthorn cache. <https://coord.info/GC6QVDF>

Aster season; beyond the cache, around the bend and along the field.

Crookedstem Aster

Symphyotrichum prenanthoides is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common name crookedstem aster. It is native to eastern North America, where it occurs in eastern Canada and the eastern United States.

This rhizomatous perennial herb produces colonies of plants with stems that may exceed one meter in length. They grow upright to erect and may be crooked or nearly straight. They are often thick and purple in color with age. The leaves vary in size and shape. The flower heads are borne in branching arrays on purplish stems. The ray florets are lavender or blue in color, or sometimes white. There are up to 30 ray florets measuring up to 1.5 centimeters in length. At the center are disc florets in shades of cream and yellow to purple or brown.

This plant grows in many types of habitat including woody and marshy areas, as well as roadsides.

The Iroquois used this plant medicinally to treat fevers in babies and other ailments.

Here is information about the plant in Ontario:

Crooked Stem Aster (Aster prenanthoides) prefers wood edges, streambanks, and moist meadows. The beautiful blue-purple flowers bloom from late summer through early autumn providing great fall color on stems one to three feet tall.

Description

The Crooked-stem Aster is a perennial herb, 20 to 90 cm tall, with zigzagging stems and pale blue flower heads. It grows in colonies, commonly originating from creeping rhizomes (underground stems that spread horizontally). The Crooked-stem Aster has toothed leaves that vary from oval to lance-shaped. The lower third of each leaf is narrow and without teeth; it expands at the base to clasp the sparsely to densely hairy stem. The number of flower heads on each stem can range from very few to several. Each flower consists of a yellow disc, which turns purple or brownish with age, surrounded by 17 to 30, pale-blue rays that are 7.5 to 12 mm long.

Distribution and Population

In the United States, the Crooked-stem Aster occurs naturally in the Great Lakes Basin, south to Tennessee and North Carolina. It is also present as an exotic (non-native) species in Florida. In Canada, the Crooked-stem Aster is restricted to southwestern Ontario, where it has been found only in Elgin County (multiple populations), and Haldimand-Norfolk Regional Municipality and Oxford County (one population each). A Middlesex County population apparently is extirpated. Twenty-two existing populations of the aster are known, and most average about 20 shoots each. The actual number of plants may be lower, since more than one shoot may arise from one plant. No information on population trends is available for this species in Ontario, but considerable suitable habitat has been lost in the province.

Habitat

This aster is found along the banks of streams and creeks draining into the north shore of Lake Erie. It prefers rich, sandy, loamy soil, and is usually found at the edge of woods, in partial to full shade.

Biology

Population size varies from a few to dozens of scattered individuals. In Ontario, the Crooked-stem Aster blooms from late August to early October. It reproduces primarily by seed, although clones can be formed from elongated, fleshy rhizomes.

Threats

The shaded banks of streams and creeks in wooded areas that are home to most populations of Crooked-stem Aster are unsuitable for agriculture. While the plants are not directly threatened by farming, they are vulnerable to selective or clear-cutting of trees for wood. Populations along roadsides are more threatened by habitat modification and loss due to road maintenance and construction, or agriculture on adjacent properties. Significant modifications to stream and river courses, cutting of woodlots, and construction of housing may be the most critical forms of habitat loss for this species.

This cache is a  tied in, small, "small", camoed pill bottle. Please BYOP and keep track of the rubber band and the tiny plastic bag, so you can put it back correctly. That way I hope it stays intact for a long time. If you see anything amiss in any of my caches, please report it in your log, so it can be fixed.