Sericocarpus asteroides (Toothed white-topped aster)

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Sericocarpus asteroides (L.) Britton Sterns & Poggenb.

Toothed white-topped aster

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Asteridae	A large class that encompasses asters
Order	Asterales	Flowering plants with a central disk flower and surrounding petals, like daisies
Family	Asteraceae	The aster family, which also includes daisies and sunflowers; from the Greek ἀστήρ, “star,” for the star-shaped flowers
Genus	Sericocarpus	From the Greek serikos, “silky,” and karpos, “fruit”
Species	asteroides	Resembling the aster

About plant names...

The toothed white-topped aster is a North American native.

Identification: As asters go (there are zillions of different kinds), these are sort of disheveled-looking, at least the ones I've seen. I don't mean to pick on them, but they are easy to overlook at first. Toothed white-topped asters are 6-26" (14-65 cm) tall, with stems covered with soft, downy hairs. Leaves are roughly oval-shaped, smooth-edged toward the bottom, rounded toward the tip of each leaf. Each flower consists of a central disk flower that is off-white, and four to eight white petals that form the ray flower. Flowerheads are ½" (1.3 cm) across, occurring in small clusters. They flower between June and October.

Online References:

Www.jeffpippen.com

Maine.gov’s Department of Conservation Maine Natural Areas Program

The Connecticut Botanical Society's Connecticut wildflowers site

Discover Life

SEINet—the Southwest Environmental Information Network

EFloras

References:

Newcomb, Lawrence, Morrison, Gordon (Illus.), Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide, Little, Brown and Company, 1977, p. 210

Peterson, Roger Tory, McKenny, Margaret, Peterson Field Guides: Wildflowers—Northeastern and North Central North America, Houghton Mifflin, 1968, p. 94

7/31/2012 · Bemis Rd Conservation Area, Pepperell, Massachusetts
≈ 4 × 4½" (10 × 11 cm) ID is uncertain

7/31/2012 · Bemis Rd Conservation Area, Pepperell, Massachusetts
≈ 4½ × 6" (12 × 16 cm) ID is uncertain

Aster asteroides (L.) MacMill.

Aster paternus Cronquist

Conyza asteroides L.

Sericocarpus asteroides description by Thomas H. Kent, last updated 25 May 2020.

7/31/2012 · Bemis Rd Conservation Area, Pepperell, Massachusetts
≈ 7 × 4½" (17 × 11 cm) ID is uncertain

7/31/2012 · Bemis Rd Conservation Area, Pepperell, Massachusetts
≈ 4½ × 6" (11 × 15 cm) ID is uncertain

7/31/2012 · Bemis Rd Conservation Area, Pepperell, Massachusetts
≈ 7 × 9" (18 × 23 cm) ID is uncertain

Range:

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