For example, a mature or returning plant, or one late in the season, may have one or more stiff stems that reach close to maximum height, several arching branches, and multiple clusters of flowers (inflorescences).

[4] Symphyotrichum lateriflorum is a late-summer and fall blooming perennial, the flower heads opening as early as July in some locations and as late as October in others.

[23] After pollination, they mature in 3–4 weeks[15] and become gray or tan with an oblong-obovoid shape, 1.3–2.2 mm (0.051–0.087 in) in length with 3–5 nerves, and with a few stiff, slender bristles on their surfaces (strigillose).

[2] S. ciliatum S. frondosum S. laurentianum S. chilense S. eatonii S. foliaceum S. greatae S. hallii S. hendersonii S. jessicae S. lentum S. molle S. spathulatum S. subspicatum S. turbinellum S. boreale S. bullatum S. burgessii S. carnerosanum S. dumosum S. eulae S. lanceolatum S. lateriflorum S. leone S. nahanniense S. ontarionis S. praealtum S. racemosum S. schaffneri S. simmondsii S. tradescantii S. welshii S. laeve S. oolentangiense S. anomalum S. ciliolatum S. cordifolium S. drummondii S. shortii S. undulatum S. urophyllum S. depauperatum S. kentuckiense S. parviceps S. pilosum S. porteri S. elliottii S. firmum S. prenanthoides S. puniceum S. rhiannon S. anticostense S. novi-belgii S. retroflexum S. robynsianum In 1748, Linnaeus' apostle Pehr Kalm traveled to North America from Europe.

[29] In 1789, Scottish botanist William Aiton included Solidago lateriflora in his Hortus Kewensis,[30] the first edition of a catalogue of the plants cultivated at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, where he had been the director since 1759.

[39] In a 1928 study of Aster lateriflorus and close relatives, while pondering the "endless confusion in the naming of specimens" of this species, American botanist Karl McKay Wiegand noted how environmental differences likely affected leaf and flower head characteristics, causing botanists to name specimens of this plant as different varieties or species when they may not have been.

[44] According to Flora of North America, "[m]uch genetic and phenotypic variation is encountered within the complex; a thorough study is needed before a coherent taxonomy can be achieved.

In 1903, American botanist Edward Sandford Burgess described a new species he named Aster agrostifolius which, along with other characteristics, had very thin grass-like leaves.

Wiegand identified the holotype for his variety as collected from Cheshire, Massachusetts, 1915, by J. R. Churchill[h] and held in the herbarium of the New England Botanical Club.

flagellaris, Shinners wrote in Latin "foliis subter omnino glabris", which in English is "leaves totally glabrous on the abaxial side.

[58] Specimens collected by American botanist Alfred Traverse in Harris County, Texas, and verified by Shinners as A. lateriflorus var.

He stated that these forms "sind nur üppige, an schattigen und feuchten Orten stehende, lockerer gebaute, höhere Pflanzen", in English, "are just luxurious plants growing at shady and moist places, less branched and taller".

[83] In 1829, French botanist René Louiche Desfontaines described and named Aster horizontalis with a focus on ramuli horizontales, or "horizontal branches".

[98] It was said by American botanists Henry A. Gleason and Arthur Cronquist to be a lax plant, with wiry stems, often larger heads in open panicles, and involucres to 6.5 mm.

The word aster was used to describe a star-like flower as early as 1542 in De historia stirpium commentarii insignes, a book by the German physician and botanist Leonhart Fuchs.

[3] The USDA PLANTS Database records a presence in British Columbia,[46] but Flora of North America states that it was an ephemeral there that did not persist.

In the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain (AGCP) and Northcentral and Northeast (NCNE) regions, it is a Facultative Plant (FAC), choosing wetlands or non-wetlands and adjusting accordingly.

Nearby naturally occurring native North American trees can include silver maple (Acer saccharinum), ash-leaved maple or boxelder (Acer negundo), common hackberry (Celtis occidentalis), downy hawthorn (Crataegus mollis), the critically endangered green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica), common elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), and the endangered American elm (Ulmus americana).

In the case of a low C-value, there is lesser likelihood that the plant is growing in an undisturbed or remnant habitat with native flora and fauna.

[130] For example, in the Atlantic coastal pine barrens of Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island, S. lateriflorum has been given a C-value of 1, meaning its presence in locations of that ecoregion provides little or no confidence of a remnant habitat.

[131] In contrast, in the Dakotas, S. lateriflorum has a C-value of 10, meaning its populations there are not weedy and are restricted to only remnant habitats which have a very low tolerance for environmental degradation.

[132] Calico aster's primary means of reproduction is through pollination, which occurs with the help of short or mid-length tongued insects that are able to manipulate the small flower heads successfully and transfer pollen from one plant to another.

[133] Pollinators and nectar-seekers include short and mid-length tongued insects such as common eastern bumblebee (Bombus impatiens), European honeybee (Apis mellifera), eastern yellowjacket (Vespula maculifrons), bald-faced hornet (Dolichovespula maculata), cloudy-winged miner bee (Andrena nubecula), the miner bees Pseudopanurgus andrenoides and Pseudopanurgus compositarum, and the apoid wasp Cerceris kennicottii.

[91] The RHS Plant Finder suggests it for flower borders and beds of cottage and informal gardens, growing in an open location with full sun and well-drained moderately fertile soil.

'Bleke Bet'[147] reaches a height of 120 cm (4 ft), has dark leaves, and 18 mm (3⁄4 in) diameter flowers with rose to purple centers and white ray florets.

The comparatively new variety [of Michaelmas Daisy], Coombe Fishacre, which was raised by Mr. Archer Hind, is in magnificent condition at Long Ditton at the present time, and the plants are conspicuous amongst all the rest by reason of their extreme floriferousness.

[154] 'Daisy Bush' was introduced in 1993 and has green leaves and bushy branches of flower heads that are 20 mm (4⁄5 in) diameter, with white rays and pale yellow disks.

It has flower heads 13 mm (1⁄2 in) diameter, white rays, pale yellow disk florets that are less likely to change color, deep green leaves, and reaches a height of 120 cm (4 ft).

[159] It had single white flowers reported as 3⁄8–1⁄2 inch diameter that bloomed from 23 October 1919–5 November 1919, and it reached a height of 4 ft.[158] 'Delight' was last listed in the RHS Plant Finder in 2007.

'Valentin' is described in the Dutch magazine TUINSeizoen as a cultivar with white to pale lilac flowers that bloom September to November, with an adult height of about 76 cm (2+1⁄2 ft).