Sericocarpus tortifolius Nees
Family: Asteraceae
Dixie White-Top-Aster
[Aster bifoliatus (Walter) Ahles,  more...]
Sericocarpus tortifolius image
Bob Peterson  

Plants 33-117 cm. Stems erect, hairy. Leaves basal and proxi-malmost cauline withering by flowering; cauline sessile; blades obovate, 10-40 × 3-10 mm, margins entire, apices acuminate to slightly cuspidate, faces hairy, resinous. Heads 2-4 per branch, in corymbiform arrays. Peduncle bracts broadly lanceolate to narrowly ovate, hairy. Involucres 5-8 mm. Phyllaries in 4-5 series, outer 2-3 mm, first mid 3-4 mm, second mid 4-6 mm, puberulent. Ray florets 2-5; corolla tubes 3-4 mm, laminae 3-6 mm. Disc florets 6-11; corolla tubes 4-6 mm, lobes 1-2 mm. Ovaries fusiform-obconic, 1-3 mm, densely strigose; pappi: inner series 6-8 mm. 2n = 18.

Flowering mid summer-early fall. Dry to moist clay, sandy and gravelly open soils in oak and pine barrens, oak scrub, pastures, roadsides, mostly coastal plain; 0-200 m; Ala., Fla., Ga., La., Miss., N.C., S.C.