Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie
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  • Smooth Blue Aster

    SCIENTIFIC NAME: Symphyotrichum laeve (Aster laevis)


    COMMON NAMES: Smooth Blue Aster, Smooth Aster

    BLOOM TIME: Aug, Sept, Oct

    PLANT PROFILE:

    • Single plant up to 3ft. tall.
    • Blue-green cast to leaves & stems.
    • Several flowers on upper end of long stalk 1 in. across.
    • Up to 25 petal like blue ray flowers around a yellow disk.
    • Common in Illinois on moist prairies & oak woodlands.
    • Many cultivated garden varieties have been developed from this aster.



    INSECT/ANIMAL INTERACTIONS:

    • Ruffed Grouse & Wild Turkey feed on both the leaves and seeds of asters.
    • Tree Sparrows & White-footed Mouse eat the seeds.
    • Young foliage of these plants is browsed occasionally by deer, rabbits, groundhogs, horses, cattle, & sheep.