Mistflower Is a Member of the Order Asterales, the Family Asteraceae Or Compositae, The

MISTFLOWER

Late summer and early fall is a time when many of our native wildflowers have passed their blooming stage and have gone to seed. Yet, there are some wildflower species that are still in bloom. One of them is the Mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum [L.] DeCandolle).

Mistflower is a member of the Order Asterales, the Family Asteraceae or Compositae, the Subfamily Asteroideae, the Supertribe Helianthodae, and the Tribe Eupatorieae.

The generic name, Conoclinium, is Greek for “little cone-bed”.Konos is “cone” and klinion is “little bed”.

The specific epithet, coelestinum, is Latin for “heavenly or sky-blue”, because of the flowers’ colors.

Previous scientific synonyms for this species were Conoclinium dichotomum Chapman, C. flaccidum Greene, C. nepetaefolium Greene, C. nepetifolium Greene, C.venulosum Greene, Eupatorium coelestinum L., E. deltoideum Steudel, and E. violaceum Rafinesque.

The common name for this plant, Mistflower, was named because the shapes and the colors of the flowers resemble a low-lying, foggy mist. Other common names for this flower are Blue Boneset,Blue Mistflower, Hardy Ageratum, Pink Eupatorium, and Wild Ageratum.

DESCRIPTION OF THE MISTFLOWER

Perennial

Height: Its height is about 1-3 feet.

Stem: Its stem is downy or finely hairy, leafy, purplish, and branching.

Leaves: Its leaves are simple and opposite. Each leaf is about 1¼-4 inches long; about 2 inches wide; and is triangular, ovate, or cordated (heart-shaped). It is light green and is glabrous upon the top and is downy upon the bottom. Its margins are coarsely toothed. Its petiole is short.Because the leaves are bitter-tasting, caterpillars and herbivores donot eatthem.

Flowers: Its flowers are arranged in broad, flat-topped, umbelled, dense, terminal clusters or in the leaf axils. The flower heads are about ¼ inches long and about ¼ inches wide. Each flower head has about 30-70 flowers. These flowers may be blue-violet, pink, lavender, red violet, or even white. They become more violet with age. This is the only blue flowered specieswithin this genus. Each flower has disk flowers but no ray flowers. The flower is insect-pollinated. Butterflies (Suborder Rhopalocera) and Bees (Superfamily Apoidea) are attracted to this flower. Flowering season is June to November.

Fruits: Its fruits are black, elongated achenes with small tufts of hair at 1 end. These seeds are scattered by the wind.

Roots:Its root masses are interwoven. This plant can spread aggressively by its underground rhizomes and can become a pest.

Habitat: Its habitats consist of woodland edges, wet meadows, field margins, stream banks, thickets, and roadsides.

Range: Its range consists of most of the eastern U.S.,as far west as the Great Plains, and southern Ontario.

Uses of the Mistflower:

There are no known edible ormedicinal uses of the Mistflower. Its only uses are for landscaping or for butterfly gardens.

REFERENCES

NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION FIELD GUIDE TO WILDFLOWERS OF NORTH AMERICA

By David M. Brandenburg

WILDFLOWERS IN THE FIELD AND FOREST

By Steven Clemants and Carol Gracie

MISSOURI WILDFLOWERS

By Edgar Denison

WILDFLOWERS OF OHIO

By Robert L. Henn

ILLINOIS WILDFLOWERS

By Don Kurz

EASTERN NORTH AMERICA’S WILDFLOWERS

By Louis C. Linn

NEWCOMB’S WILDFLOWER GUIDE

By Lawrence Newcomb and Gordon Morrison

WILDFLOWERS

By Roger Tory Peterson and Margaret McKenny

WILDFLOWERS OF NORTH AMERICA

By Frank D. Venning and Manabu C. Saito

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conoclinium_coelestinum