Participant Info

Species

Symphyotrichum laeve [Aster laevis var. geyeri]

Family

Asteraceae

CommonName

smooth aster

Presence

YES

Status

native

EarliestDate

1935

LatestDate

2014?

Ecosystem

montane

Geobotanical

SSanjuans

Counties

Mineral

Passes

Wolf Creek

WildlifePreserves

Other Localities

PhotoRecords

Comments

NEED IN SITU PHOTOS. Of smooth aster there are only two vouchers from the Watershed, both from Horseshoe Curve, about 2 miles NNE of La Manga Pass (Conejos Co, 1993). The 1971 voucher labeled from “Buckthorn Creek Ca. 8 mi NW Massonville” in "Conejos Co" is actually from Buckhorn Creek in Latimer Co. And the several iNaturalist observation from the town of Alamosa do not show enough of the plants to make a determination possible. Symphyotrichum laeve is often collected in the San Juan watershed, and may extend into the Rio Grand watershed at one other point: "Wolf Creek Pass" (Mineral Co, 1935). Note that Allred et al. (2020) show the species present in counties bordering Colorado (Rio Arriba, Taos, Colfax) and following the Rio Grande drainage down to the Mexican border (it also occurs a little farther down stream, in Culberson Co, Texas). The USA distribution is broad: New England, the upper Midwest, and the Rocky Mountains from the Canadian border south, plus scattered locations in all other states except for California

Annotation