Ionactis linariifolia - Stiff-leaved Aster

Sizes available: Landscape plug, 6.00 each or 10 for 48.00, mix and match okay

Basics: zones 4-9, 1-2' x .5-1', full sun to light shade, medium purple to very light blue-ish white with a yellow center over narrow, needle-like leaves in mid to late summer, likes it dry to medium moist, well drained, sandy, and acidic, but is adaptable to most conditions as long as they are well-drained, no winter wet.

Common names: Stiff-leaved Aster, Flax-leaf Ankle-aster, Flaxleaf Whitetop

Synonym: Aster linariifolius

Family: Asteraceae

Origin/Distribution: Quebec and New Brunswick south to Florida, west to the east Texas border and north to Minnesota. These plants were grown from seed collected in New England. Ionactis linariifolia is native to Maine.

Habitat: Oak-Pine woods, upland slopes, dry and open woodland, moister sites as long as there is good drainage

More: This compact, long-bloomer is an excellent native addition to your sunny rock garden or sunny border edge, or by a step with good drainage - that sort of place. The blooms are attractive to moths, beetles, bees, flies, and butterflies. Turkeys, grouse and small mammals eat the seeds. The root of this plant has been used medicinally.

Even more: Numerous oligolectic bees feed on the nectar of Ionactis linariifolia and gather the pollen for their larvae. These bees include Andrena asteris, the Aster Mining Bee, Andrena hirticincta, the Yellow-banded Mining Bee, Colletes simulans armata, the Eastern Spine-shouldered Cellophane Bee, Andrena nubecula, the Cloudy-winged Mining Bee, and Andrena simplex, the Simple Mining Bee, all of whom occur in Maine. Phyciodes tharos, the Pearl Crescent Butterfly, and Chlosyne nycteis, the Silvery Checkerspot (a species of special concern in Maine), feed on and use this plant as a larval host. Its stiff, narrow foliage is useful camouflage for small caterpillars. The Canada case-bearing leaf beetle, Exema canadensis, also feeds on Stiff-leaved Aster as an adult and at the larval stage. The Obscure Plant Bug, Plagiognathus cuneatus eats the leaf and stem tissues as well. Certain aphids in the genus Uroleucon enjoy sucking the sap of Ionactis linariifolia. Look up entomologist Edith Patch to learn more about her extensive research of aphids in Maine. 

Source: grown from seed by Honey Petal Plants or grown on from plugs from Van Berkum Nursery

Image credit: In situ at Mt. Cuba Center; illustration from Wikimedia Commons. Many of the mining bees that use this plant will make ground nests in this type of sandy soil.