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Slowly forms large colonies. (Ontario Native Plants 2002)
The rigid, upright stem has a flat topped cluster of white flower heads up to 30 cm across. It is one of the first asters to appear. (Audubon)
Habitat Information: One of the first asters to bloom in the season. Has a white umbrella flower that is often common in ditches along wooded roads, wet thickets, wet meadows. (Evergreen) It works well in masses, and can be aggressive when it likes its surroundings. (Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Centre)
Ruffed grouse, wild turkey, eastern goldfinch, white tailed deer, cottontail rabbit, and farm animals eat this species. (Illinois Wildflowers)
Garden Uses: Flat topped aster is a showy plant, great for ornamental gardens, great for downspout disconnection gardens, or bioswales. Flat topped aster is a lovely wetland plant, that also does well in normal soil, even tolerating full sun and dry garden conditions, however is smaller as a result. Umbellatus means like an umbrella, referring to the flower. To be water conservation friendly, this plant is a great choice in a wet, and full sun or part shade pond garden, great at the outflow of a residential downspout, or for use in bioswales or stormwater ponds, where water is captured and held to create periodic or constant wet conditions. (Evergreen)
Insect Relationships: Long tongued bees, short tongued bees, wasps, flies, butterflies, beetles, and other insects. Host to caterpillars of an uncommon butterfly, Chlosyne harrisii (Harris' checkerspot), which feed on flat topped aster only. Vistied by caterpillars of moths: Acrocercops astericola, Astrotischeria astericola, and Carmenta corni (aster borer moth), and other moths. Another species that uses aster spp as exclusive food are Macrosteles quadrilineatus (aster leafhopper), various aphids (Uroleucon spp.), plant bug Plagiognathus cuneatus, lace bugs Corythucha marmorata and Galeatus spinifrons, leaf beetles Microrhopala excavata and Exema canadensis, caterpillars of Chlosyne nycteis (silvery checkerspot) and Phyciodes tharos (pearl crescent), larvae of Calycomyza humeralis (aster leafminer fly), larvae of small flies Paroxyna albiceps, Tomoplagia obliqua, and Trupanea actinobola. (Illinois Wildflowers)
Traditional Edible, Medicinal Uses: There is little information about the edible and medicinal properties of this plant. (Evergreen)
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