| Author | (L.) Britton, Sterns, & Poggenburg | |
| Distribution | Essentially throughout the state, but scarce in the Mountains and apparently absent from the northeastern corner.
MA to southern IN, south to central GA and southeastern LA. | |
| Abundance | Common over the Piedmont and most of the Coastal Plain; infrequent in the southern Mountains, but absent in the northern half. Rare to absent in the northeastern Coastal Plain. | |
| Habitat | Dry to mesic soils of a wide variety of woodlands, such as pine-oak-hickory, oak-hickory-dogwood, Longleaf Pine-oak-Wiregrass (mostly in loamy sand), forest openings, rocky or gravelly slopes, rock outcrops. Usually in partial shade; habitats are nearly the same as for the similar S. asteroides. | |
| Phenology | Flowering and fruiting June-July. | |
| Identification | Our three species of "whitetop aster" used to be included in the genus Aster. In the field they have a distinct gestalt, due to far fewer ray florets per head (maximum of 6), and these are always white. Narrowleaf Whitetop Aster typically grows 1-2 feet tall, with linear leaves that are characteristically thick, shiny, and dark green above; basal leaves have withered by flowering time. The ray florets are narrower and much longer than in our other 2 species. All 3 species in the genus are common within much of their ranges, and people should easily become familiar with each one. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | Formerly treated as Aster solidagineus.
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| Other Common Name(s) | Flaxleaf Whitetop Aster | |
| State Rank | S5 | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
