Bushy Aster

Bushy Aster, Rice Button Aster

Symphyotricum dumosum (L.)Nesom.

(formerly Aster dumosus L.)

Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

▲ Mature plant, unmowed

▲ ▼ Mature plants in mowed buffalograss lawn

▲ uprooted plant from mowed lawn

▲ ▼ flowers, with below showing seedheads on some inflorescences

Bushy Aster, Rice Button Aster:

simple perennial, native weed in the Aster family (Asteraceae)
produces numerous small, pink daisy-like flowers in mid-late autumn; can be found in mowed lawns or non-crop areas, right-of-ways
has narrow linear, leaves which become almost scale-like once flowering commences
similar heath aster (Symphyotrichum ericoides) has slightly broader petals, fewer petals per inflorescence (8-20) and the bracts below the inflorescence end in a short, thickened point
similar white heath aster (Symphyotrichum pilosum) has narrow leaves that become almost linear at flowering; flowers are white to pale pink or pale purple and have 15-35 petals per inflorescence and the bracts below the inflorescence are long and tapered to a point that is not abruptly thickened
reproduces readily by seed
found in lawns, pastures, roadsides
Control:
- grazing, cutting and mowing somewhat effective (can adapt and bloom under very short cutting height), tilling
- chemical control mostly by postemergent herbicides applied before flowering begins