Symphyotrichum kentuckiense

Symphyotrichum kentuckiense
S. kentuckiense in Hamilton County, Tennessee
Conservation status
Apparently Secure  (NatureServe)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Asteraceae
Genus:	Symphyotrichum
Species:	S. kentuckiense
Binomial name
Symphyotrichum kentuckiense (Britton) Medley[2]
Synonyms[2]
Basionym Aster kentuckiensis Britton

Symphyotrichum kentuckiense (formerly Aster kentuckiensis) is a rare species of flowering plant in the Asteraceae family and is commonly known as Kentucky aster, Price's aster, Miss Price's aster, Sadie's aster, or lavender oldfield aster. It is a perennial, herbaceous plant that is endemic to broken limestone cedar glades and roadsides in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. It blooms from August through October, reaches heights between 30 centimeters (1 foot) and 100 cm (3.3 ft), and has green to reddish-brown stems. It is a nearly hairless plant with blue to blue-violet ray florets.

Symphyotrichum priceae was once considered the name of the plant, with S. kentuckiense and Aster kentuckiensis placed as its taxonomic synonyms. In 2021, botanist Max E. Medley proposed that this treatment was incorrect. As of October 2022^[update], what was originally described as Aster priceae was accepted to be the hybrid between S. kentuckiense and Symphyotrichum pilosum var. pilosum and has been named Symphyotrichum × priceae.^[3] The hybrid is a somewhat hairy plant rather than a hairless one, and its characteristics are intermediate between its parents.

NatureServe considers S. kentuckiense^[a] Apparently Secure (G4) globally and Imperiled (S2) in Kentucky where the holotype was collected near Bowling Green in October 1898 by botanist Sadie F. Price. Aster kentuckiensis was then formally described by botanist Nathaniel Lord Britton in 1901.

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