DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Aster laevis | Smooth Aster 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Smooth aster is widely distributed in the United States and Canada from
the Atlantic Coast to the eastern slopes of the Cascade Range, south to
New Mexico, Texas, and Georgia [19,40,43].  In eastern North America
var. laevis is the most common.  This variety intergrades in the Great
Plains with var. geyeri.  Var. geyeri's distribution continues through
the mountain states to Yukon Territory and British Columbia, eastern
Washington and Oregon, south through Utah to New Mexico and Texas [19].
It is cultivated in Hawaii [54].  Var. coccinnus occurs in Georgia,
North Carolina, Tennesee, and Virginia [50].  Var. guadalupensis occurs
in the Guadalupe Mountains of Texas [21].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES10  White - red - jack pine
   FRES12  Longleaf - slash pine
   FRES13  Loblolly - shortleaf pine
   FRES14  Oak - pine
   FRES15  Oak - hickory
   FRES18  Maple - beech - birch
   FRES19  Aspen - birch
   FRES21  Ponderosa pine
   FRES36  Mountain grasslands
   FRES38  Plains grasslands
   FRES39  Prairie


STATES : 
     AL  AZ  CO  CT  DE  GA  HI  ID  IL  IN
     IA  KS  KY  LA  ME  MD  MA  MI  MN  MO
     MT  NE  NV  NH  NJ  NM  NY  NC  ND  OH
     OK  OR  PA  RI  SC  SD  TN  TX  UT  VT
     VA  WA  WV  WI  WY  AB  BC  MB  NB  NF
     NS  ON  PE  PQ  SK  YT


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     BAND  BLRI  CATO  CUVA  DEWA  EFMO
     FIIS  GRKO  INDU  JECA  MORU  NERI
     OZAR  PIPE  ROMO  SHEN  SLBE  THRO
     WICA


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    2  Cascade Mountains
    4  Sierra Mountains
    5  Columbia Plateau
    6  Upper Basin and Range
    8  Northern Rocky Mountains
    9  Middle Rocky Mountains
   10  Wyoming Basin
   11  Southern Rocky Mountains
   12  Colorado Plateau
   13  Rocky Mountain Piedmont
   14  Great Plains
   15  Black Hills Uplift
   16  Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K011  Western ponderosa forest
   K016  Eastern ponderosa forest
   K017  Black Hills pine forest
   K050  Fescue - wheatgrass
   K051  Wheatgrass - bluegrass
   K056  Wheatgrass - needlegrass shrubsteppe
   K063  Foothills prairie
   K064  Grama - needlegrass - wheatgrass
   K065  Grama - buffalograss
   K066  Wheatgrass - needlegrass
   K067  Wheatgrass - bluestem - needlegrass
   K068  Wheatgrass - grama - buffalograss
   K069  Bluestem - grama prairie
   K070  Sandsage - bluestem prairie
   K074  Bluestem prairie
   K075  Nebraska Sandhills prairie
   K081  Oak savanna
   K082  Mosaic of K074 and K100
   K084  Cross Timbers
   K095  Great Lakes pine forest
   K099  Maple - basswood forest
   K100  Oak - hickory forest
   K102  Beech - maple forest
   K103  Mixed mesophytic forest
   K104  Appalachian oak forest
   K106  Northern hardwoods
   K107  Northern hardwoods - fir forest
   K108  Northern hardwoods - spruce forest
   K109  Transition between K104 and K106
   K110  Northeastern oak - pine forest
   K111  Oak - hickory - pine forest
   K112  Southern mixed forest


SAF COVER TYPES : 
     1  Jack pine
    14  Northern pin oak
    15  Red pine
    16  Aspen
    18  Paper birch
    19  Gray birch - red maple
    20  White pine - northern red oak - red maple
    21  Eastern white pine
    25  Sugar maple - beech - yellow birch
    26  Sugar maple - basswood
    27  Sugar maple
    42  Bur oak
    44  Chestnut oak
    46  Eastern redcedar
    52  White oak - black oak - northern red oak
    53  White oak
    70  Longleaf pine
    75  Shortleaf pine
    78  Virginia pine - oak
    79  Virginia pine
    83  Longleaf pine - slash pine
    84  Slash pine
   237  Interior ponderosa pine


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Smooth aster is a component of many types of plant associations, most
notably of mixed prairie types such as needlegrass (Stipa comata, S.
spartea)-blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) and wheatgrass (Elymus
lanceolatus, Pascopyrum smithii)-junegrass (Koelaria cristata) types
[10].

Smooth aster is an understory dominant or a component in a number of
quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) community types, including a quaking
aspen-Missouri gooseberry (Ribes missouriense)-roughleaf ricegrass
(Oryzopsis asperifolia)-smooth aster community type [39].  It also
occurs as an understory dominant in a quaking aspen-Bigelow ligularia
(Ligularia bigelovii) community type [34].  Smooth aster is a leading
dominant in a smooth aster-western yarrow (Achillea millefolium v.
lanulosa) plant association found in openings in quaking aspen parklands
[29].

Related categories for Species: Aster laevis | Smooth Aster