Musings

Friday, October 16, 2015

Narrow-Leaved Michaelmas Daisy





I was going to do a quick post last night of what i thought was plain old Michaelmas Daisy, but oh no, there's no such thing as a Michaelmas Daisy! It turns out that there are a group of difficult to distinguish species and hybrids roaming the British countryside. 
So having plodding through the keys in Collins, Stace and Rose, I reckon on this being Narrow-leaved Michaelmas Daisy, Aster lanceolatus. The reasons are as follows: it has only just started flowering (Sept - Jan given as range); it has very pale ligules; non-clasping, narrow leaves; glabrous (no hairs); involucre bracts not widest below the middle (which is a characteristic of Common Michaelmas Daisy, the only other contender). 

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