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The Drummond's aster (Symphyotrichum drummondii) belongs to Asteraceae (the Aster family). It is a perennial herb that is distributed in the eastern and central United States and northeastern Mexico. It grows in open woodlands and open spaces and is 90 to 120 cm tall. The leaves are cordate-ovate, serrate, and alternate. The upper leaves are small with slightly crenate-serrated edges. From August to October, large racemes of head flowers emerge from the stem apex and the leaf axils at upper part of the stem. The flower heads have 10 to 15 mauve to pale purple ray florets, and the tubular flowers are cream to yellow, eventually turning reddish purple. The fruit is an achene with a pappus. The specific epithet is named for Thomas Drummond (1790-1835), a Scottish naturalist who collected plant specimens in the western and southern United States in the early 1830s.
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