(formerly Aster turbinellus), with the common names of prairie aster, smooth violet prairie aster, and mauve-flowered starwort, is a species of perennial flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to the United States in Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma, primarily in the Ozarks. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. It flowers from August to October.
Description S. turbinellum is a perennial flowering plant that reaches heights of . It has straight and brittle stems, and it flowers from August to October with 14–20 light blue to purple ray florets and about the same number of yellow then later purple disk florets.
Distribution and habitat
S. turbinellum is native to the United States in Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma, primarily in the Ozarks. It can be found growing in dry and acidic soils at elevations between .
Conservation NatureServe has given it a global conservation status of Apparently Secure (G4). This was last reviewed . In Iowa, it is Presumed Extirpated (SX), and in Kansas, it is Critically Imperiled (S1).
Gardening Symphyotrichum turbinellum has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
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