Aster Family (Asteraceae)
Alternatively called the Composite Family
Click a link below to find out more about each plant in the Aster Family:
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How can I recognize a member of the aster family?
Aster means star! Look at their flower structure. Nearly all species in this plant family have their flowers in dense flower heads, surrounded by rays that make it appear to be a single flower. The rays may look like petals, but are actually sterile (usually) florets lengthened through evolution to attract insects for pollination. The seeds usually have hairy structures that can be lifted by wind or stick to animal fur, aiding in dispersal. However, the seeds of some species in this family drop the hairs, such as in the sunflowers. |
Cool stuff to know about asters:
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common yarrowAchillea millefolium
Ancient medicine! This common plant is native to the northern hemisphere. Native Americans and Europeans alike used it medicinally especially to help staunch bleeding, leading to its other nickname, woundwort. (Wort derives from Old English for plant and further back meant root.) We think yarrow comes from an ancient Anglo-Saxon word meaning “to repair.” The ferny looking leaves are delightfully soft. The foliage smell is strong, but pleasant to most people. Planted as a companion plant in a garden the odor seems to repel some insect pests while the flowers attract large numbers of pollinators. Yarrow can even be used to dye wool yarns naturally resulting in a green to yellow color. Scientific name origin In Greek, Achillea is from Achilles the warrior hero. Legend has it that Achilles used it to keep his armies healthy. The species name, millefolium, is Latin for thousand-leaved, referring to its many leaf parts. compass plantSilphium laciniatum
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A well behaved hawkweed Remember that “weed” in a common name does not necessarily mean the species is an unwanted non-native plant. This iconic sand prairie hawkweed grows single or only a few together unlike the weedy non-native hawkweeds which form solid carpets with their basal rosettes. Grandpa hawkweed has the longest hairs (up to an inch long!) and it’s the tallest of all the Hieraciums. The small yellow ray flower petals are strap-like with a fringe on the end. The tiny seeds have pretty tawny hairs that carry the seeds on the wind away from the parent plant. Scientific name origin Hieracium is from the Greek for “hawk”, from an ancient thought that hawks used the plant to help their eyesight. Longipilum is from the Latin for “with long white hairs.” heath asterSymphyotrichum ericoides
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One of Nachusa Grasslands most bountiful blooms. Some of our original unplowed remnant prairie have acres of this native. It also grows very well in our prairie restorations. There is one other of this genus in some parts of Illinois (Echinacea purpurea). Ours, pale purple coneflower, is the most widespread in Illinois. It is quite stiff and the stem and long leaves near the base are all covered in rough white hairs. Scientific name origin Echinacea is from the Greek, which means, like a sea urchin, because of the prickly seedhead. Pallida is Latin for pale, because it is usually paler than the other purple coneflowers. Sometimes there is even a white bloom. pasture thistleCirsium discolor
Thistles need a better public relations campaign The flowers are nectar for many pollinators, make a fine honey, and the blossoms are very fragrant. The entire plant can be eaten: leaves with spines removed are excellent salad or cooked greens. The stalk has been peeled and eaten raw or cooked. And the roasted root is said to be sweet. Goldfinches time their nesting (late in summer) to when thistles are in seed. The seed fluff is used by goldfinches to line the nest and the parents feed their nestlings regurgitated seeds. The spines protect the plant from grazers and even the flowers from ants which take nectar but don’t effectively pollinate. Each plant only lives two years. It takes two years for this thistle to bloom; the first year it just has a basal rosette of leaves. Scientific name origin Cirsium is Greek for swollen veins, which this plant was thought to cure. Discolor is Latin for two colors. prairie dock
Silphium terebinthinaceum
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Cat’s paws on the prairie These fuzzy plants grow in colonies connected by underground runners. Sometimes each colony is either male or female. If a female flower fails to be fertilized it can still produce seed! Plants in this genus tolerate cold very well; many species are alpine. Perhaps those silvery white “hairs” all over keep the plant warm! The caterpillars of American painted lady butterflies depend on pussytoes (and related plants) for food and shelter (they roll up inside the leaves). Scientific name origin Antennaria, from the Latin for antennae, either because the resemblance to insect feelers of the hairs of the females flowers that split into two threads, or the hair on the seed that carry it on the wind. Plantaginifolia means the leaves are shaped like those of the plantain plants. |
rosinweedSilphium integrifolium
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I love the sandy and gravelly soil places at Nachusa! Look for my amazing spike of pinkish-purple flower “buttons.” Bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and many others love my nectar and help move my pollen around so my baby seeds can develop and blow away in the wind. Nachusa has three kinds of blazing stars—me, a shorter one, and one that loves wetter soils. You have probably seen my cousins in flower arrangements because I am so pretty. Scientific name origin Liatris has no known derivation! The plant and language experts do not know what word means. Aspera means harsh in Latin. sawtooth sunflowerHelianthus grosseserratus
Easy identification There are at least eight species of sunflower native to the preserve that are very similar in appearance, and to add to that frustration, hybridizing among sunflower species is possible. However, sawtooth sunflower is easy to identify. It is Nachusa’s tallest sunflower, and the leaves usually have serrated edges, but the most distinguishing feature is its smooth reddish stem (often with a powdery white coating). Like other sunflowers its nectar and pollen are very important for bees and butterflies. Also other parts of the plant (leaves, stem pith, juices, and seeds) are food to many insects (caterpillars, flies, beetles, grasshoppers, aphids, and the sunflower spittlebug). The fat and protein content of the seeds are very important for birds and rodents to get through the winter lean times. Scientific name origin Helianthus is Greek, helios, meaning sun, and anthus, meaning flower. Grosseserratus is Latin meaning, with large sawteeth. showy goldenrodSolidago speciosa
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stiff goldenrodOligoneuron rigidum
Goldenrods were formerly in the genus Solidago which means to make whole. Many goldenrod species were used as medicines before the modern age. Goldenrod does seem to act like a diuretic and in Europe is used in teas to flush out kidney stones and stop inflammatory diseases of the urinary tract. The genus for goldenrods used to be Solidago (to make whole) but recently stiff goldenrod and a few others were put in their own genus. It certainly looks a bit different with its fuzzy thick leaves, stem, and flower head. Did you know Thomas Edison and others experimented with using goldenrods as a source of rubber? This is because some species are rich in latex. Scientific name origin Oligoneuron is Greek for few-nerved. Rigidum is Latin for stiff. tall coreopsisCoreopsis tripteris
I am not a sunflower even though I have yellow flowers, because I only have eight ray flowers. My one of my nicknames is tickseed. But my seed don’t stick to you. I love to wave in the breeze in mid-summer. I can handle a lot of different kinds of soil, from dry to wet and sunny to slightly shaded. My yellow ray flowers are usually eight in number and my inner disk flowers are reddish-brown. I am a smooth one and the tallest of Nachusa’s three species of coreopsis. I have lower leaves that are divided into 3-5 lance-shaped leaflets (2-5 inches long) and upper leaves that are not divided. Scientific name origin Coreopsis is Greek and means, the appearance of a bug, referring to the rounded flat seeds that might look like a tick to some. Tripteris is also Greek and means three-winged.
tall goldenrodSolidago altissima
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Goldenrods are very common all over the USA (at least 90 species). They were even proposed as our national flower due to the idea that the many tiny flowers are needed to make a perfect whole. Goldenrod plants form clones so dense no other plants can get in. This short, flat-topped narrow-leaved species, with the long name is a welcome addition to the prairie, attracting many insect pollinators. Because goldenrods bloom at the same time as the non-showy ragweeds people confuse the two. Ragweed pollen is tiny and wind pollinated while goldenrod pollen is large and sticky and requires insects to move it around. Only the ragweed pollen annoys our noses. Scientific name origin Euthamia is Greek for well-crowded. For the species gymnospermoides, the suffix "oides" in Latin means it resembles, in this case a genus Gymnosperma. 
wild quinineParthenium integrifolium
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