Fall 2004

New England Aster
Sunny Showoff

Amid the fall yellows of the saw-toothed sunflower and the stiff goldenrod, the colorful New England aster, Aster novae-angliae, literally stands out from the rest. Topped with a distinctive deep violet flower, it is one of the tallest asters, growing to between four and five feet tall. The Peterson Field Guide to Wildflowers calls it "our most showy wild aster."

	Photo by Patricia Armstrong.

"It's really quite a comely plant," says Gerry Wilhelm of Conservation Design Forum. The flower of the New England aster tends to be a deeper color and have more rays than other asters - usually more than 40 in all - often with a reddish cast. More rarely, a white variety arises, as do pink ones. Although their size can range widely, flower heads tend to be about one inch to two inches wide, with bright yellow disk flowers encircled by the extending rays.

An adaptable native that can be found in high-quality prairies and roadside ditches alike, the New England aster is often the "last man standing" in disturbed natural areas, surviving long after its native plant companions have succumbed to invasive species. Despite its name, the plant ranges across the Northeast and Midwest, and has been quite at home throughout the Chicago Wilderness region for millennia. According to Wilhelm, it grows abundantly in every county of the region: in moist meadows, prairie remnants, dry pastures, and even calcareous fens. Though it can thrive in both wet and dry areas, the plant tends to like habitats with lots of light.

The Potawatomi Indians called the New England aster pukwänä'sîkûn, or "the reviver." According to the Mana-taka American Indian Council, the Prairie Potawatomi used it as a fumigating agent (with a less than "reviving" effect, one would think). But the New England aster is certainly a "reviver" in another sense: given its ability to withstand weedy competition, conservationists often use the plant in restoring prairies.

The genus name Aster comes from the Greek word for star, a reference to the starry shape of the flower head, says Susanne Masi, co-author of The Sunflower Family of the Upper Midwest. An older name for the plant, Michaelmas daisy, stems from its approximate blooming date of September 29, the Feast of Saint Michael.

Today, ecologists still puzzle over the tiny glands, bulbous and translucent, that poke out from the upper stems of the plant and the bracts around the flower heads. "We can't pretend to know what each one's for," says Wilhelm. The glands may produce secondary plant chemicals, suggests Masi, which would serve either to repel predators or attract beneficial insects.

Look for the blooming New England aster from August through October anywhere from wet meadows to the sunny, open fields of most forest preserves. But also take notice of abandoned lots and roadsides — there's a chance the violet flower of this aster will be poking above the weeds. To hone your "search image" for the plant in the wild, visit the Chicago Botanic Garden, where more than 20,000 New England asters bloom in the Suzanne S. Dixon Prairie.

— Allison M. Knab