For Your Garden - November 2020

Native plants provide beauty as well as food and shelter for wildlife. Native species are adapted to the Illinois climate. They require little or no watering and are resistant to drought, insects and most diseases. Because they are perennials, you can welcome their presence year after year.

flat-topped aster (Doellingeria umbellata)
Photo © John Hilty

Flat-topped aster grows in fens, bogs and low areas in the northern one-half of the state. Flowers are produced from July through October. Flower heads develop in clusters at the stem tip. The ray flowers are white, while the disk flowers are yellow. The seeds produced from fertilized flowers are dry, hard and have a tuft of hairs. The plant may attain a height of two to five feet. Many pollinators are attracted to the flowers, and many other animals eat the seeds of this species.

Classification and taxonomy are based on Mohlenbrock, Robert H. 2014. Vascular flora of Illinois: A field guide. Fourth edition. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale. 536 pp.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae