Notes from Halibut Point: Asters of Halibut Point

Friday, December 20, 2019

Asters of Halibut Point

Pictured here at Halibut Point are 16 species of asters, the star-shaped flowers of late summer. They grow in various habitats, from moist to dry and shady to sunny. Distinguishing them accurately in the field is a dedicated business that may require a comparison of details in the leaves, stems, and expression of the plant as well as flowers.

By the time asters come into bloom it's been months since the dazzle of spring. Our senses have been dulled by a long green interlude of pleasant traipsings on trails and shoreline. The landscape is tiring of heat and bright light. Dry areas are fading. The onset of aster season refreshes our delight in the woods and moors with the suddenness of new flowers and a curiosity for botanical intricacies. Whether it's coming to an oceanside panorama of violet blossoms or bending on hands and knees to study a puzzle in a thorny thicket, we perk up for a succession of aster events from August to November.

Molecular analysis by our generation of botanists adds to their findings of likenesses and distinctions in the evolutionary structure of plants. Where our local aster species used to be considered members of one worldwide genus Aster in the family Asteraceae, they have been assigned in current taxonomy to various genera within that family. None of them any longer carries the genus name Aster. The photographs below are organized within this re-classification.

The genus Symphyotrichum