Aster amellus

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Asterids
Cladus: Campanulids
Ordo: Asterales

Familia: Asteraceae
Subfamilia: Asteroideae
Tribus: Astereae
Subtribus: Asterinae
Genus: Aster
Species: Aster amellus
Subspecies: A. a. subsp. amellus – A. a. subsp. bessarabicus – A. a. subsp. ibericus
Name

Aster amellus L. (1753).
Synonymy

Homotypic
Kalimares amellus (L.) Raf. in Fl. Tellur. 2: 46 (1837).

Homonyms

Aster amellus Aitch. = Aster indamellus Griers.

Distribution
Native distribution areas:

Continental: Europe
France, Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein, Italy, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Hercegovina, Serbia & Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Crimea, C-, E- & S-European Russia (incl. Kaliningrad region)
Continental: Asia-Temperate
Northern Caucasus, Georgia [Caucasus], Anatolia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Siberia (W-Siberia)

References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition
References
Primary references

Linnaeus, C. 1753. Species Plantarum. Tomus II: 873. Reference page.

Links

International Plant Names Index. 2017. Aster amellus. Published online. Accessed: Dec. 02 2017. Reference page.
The Plant List 2013. Aster amellus in The Plant List Version 1.1. Published online. Accessed: 2017 Dec. 02.
Tropicos.org 2017. Aster amellus. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published online. Accessed: 02 Dec. 2017.
Hassler, M. 2017. Aster amellus. World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2017. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published online. Accessed: 2017 Dec. 02. Reference page.
FloraWeb

Vernacular names
azərbaycanca: Gözəl çayırçiçəyi
беларуская: Астра стэпавая
български: Димитровче
čeština: Hvězdnice chlumní
Deutsch: Berg-Aster
English: European Michaelmas Daisy
español: Estrellada
eesti: Amellaster
suomi: Elokuunasteri
français: Aster amelle
magyar: Csillagőszirózsa
italiano: Astro amello
polski: Aster gawędka
русский: Астра ромашковая
slovenčina: Astra kopcová
Türkçe: Dağ yıldızpatısı
татарча / tatarça: Акчәчәк кашкарые
українська: Айстра волове око
Tiếng Việt: Cúc cánh mối
中文: 三基脉紫菀

Aster amellus, the European Michaelmas daisy,[1] is a perennial herbaceous plant and the type species of the genus Aster and the family Asteraceae.
Etymology

The specific name amellus is first used in the Georgics (Book IV, 271–280), a poem of the Latin poet Publius Vergilius Maro (70 BCE – 19 BCE), but the etymology is obscure and uncertain.

The English common name derives from the flowers being in bloom during Michaelmas (the Feast of St. Michael the archangel).[2]
Description

Aster amellus reaches on average a height of 20–50 centimetres (7.9–19.7 in). The stem is erect and branched, the leaves are dark green. The basal leaves are obovate and petiolated, the cauline ones are alternate and sessile, increasingly narrower and lanceolate. The flowers are lilac. The flowering period extends from July through October. The hermaphroditic flowers are either self-fertilized (autogamy) or pollinated by insects (entomogamy). The seeds are an achene that ripens in October.
Distribution

This plant is present on the European mountains from the Pyrenees and the Alps to the Carpathians. Outside Europe it is located in western Asia (Turkey), the Caucasus, Siberia, South Asia (Uttarakhand, India) and Central Asia (Kazakhstan).
Cultivation

Asters are valued in the garden for late summer and autumn colour in shades of blue, pink and white. This species has several cultivars of ornamental garden use. The following have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:-

'Framfieldii'[3]
'Jacqueline Genebrier'[4]
'King George'[5]
'Veilchenkönigin'[6]
Aster × frikartii 'Mönch'[7]

Habitat

The typical habitat is rocky limy areas, the edges of the bushes and copses, but also the sub-alpine meadows, marshy places and lake sides. It prefers calcareous and slightly dry substrate with basic pH and low nutritional value, at an altitude of 0–800 metres (0–2,625 ft) above sea level.
Synonyms

Amellus officinalis Gaterau
Amellus vulgaris Opiz
Aster acmellus Pall.
Aster albus Willd. ex Spreng.
Aster amelloides Hoffm.
Aster amellus subsp. bessarabicus (Bernh. ex Rchb.) Soó
Aster atticus Pall.
Aster bessarabicus Bernh. ex Rchb.
Aster collinus Salisb.
Aster elegans Nees
Aster noeanus Sch.Bip. ex Nyman

Aster ottomanum Velen.
Aster pseudoamellus DC.
Aster purpureus Gueldenst. ex Ledeb.
Aster scepusiensis Kit. ex Kanitz
Aster tinctorius Wallr.
Aster trinervius Gilib.
Diplopappus asperrimus (Nees) DC.
Diplopappus laxus Benth.
Galatella asperrima Nees
Kalimares amellus (L.) Raf. ex B.D.Jacks. (1894)

In literature

The Michaelmas Daisy. was one of Letitia Elizabeth Landon's earliest published poems (1820).

References

BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
"Michaelmas Daisy". monrovia.com. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
"RHS Plant Selector Aster amellus 'Framfieldii' AGM / RHS Gardening". Apps.rhs.org.uk. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
"RHS Plant Selector Aster amellus 'Jacqueline Genebrier' AGM / RHS Gardening". Apps.rhs.org.uk. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
"RHS Plant Selector Aster amellus 'King George' AGM / RHS Gardening". Apps.rhs.org.uk. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
"RHS Plant Selector Aster amellus 'Veilchenkönigin' AGM / RHS Gardening". Apps.rhs.org.uk. Retrieved 2020-04-15.

"Aster × frikartii 'Mönch'". RHS. Retrieved 12 April 2020.

Plants for a Future
Pignatti S. - Flora d'Italia (3 vol.) - Edagricole – 1982, Vol. III, pag. 20