This purple fall aster is popping up everywhere in Canada right now
iNaturalist Community
Native Plants
If you've noticed clouds of small blue-violet daisies lining shady trail edges this week, you're seeing exactly what thousands of other citizen scientists are spotting right now, and adding your own photo helps map where this native plant actually thrives.
Common Blue Wood Aster is a native plant with small blue-purple, daisy-like flowers that blooms in shady woodland edges in early fall. Right now it's one of the most-photographed plants on iNaturalist in Canada, with 286 people logging sightings in just one week. That count actually dropped from the week before, which likely just means its bloom is starting to wind down as the season turns colder.
Key Findings
286 observations of Symphyotrichum cordifolium recorded in Canada over the past 7 days
Count fell from 387 the previous week, a drop of 101 observations
Ranked among the most-observed plant species in Canada this week on iNaturalist
chevron_right Technical Summary
Canadian iNaturalist users logged 286 sightings of Common Blue Wood Aster in the past week, making it one of the most-observed plants in the country, even though that's down from 387 the week before.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Trending: Common Blue Wood Aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium) — 286 observations this week
Common Blue Wood Aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium) is a species in the family Asteraceae. iNaturalist users recorded 286 observations of it in Canada in the 7 days before today, among the most for...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
Species Mentioned
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Symphyotrichum cordifolium, commonly known as common blue wood aster, heartleaf aster, and blue wood-aster, is a perennial herbaceous flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to central and eastern North America. It reaches heights of up to 1.2 meters and has bluish daisy-like flowers whic...