Aster ageratoides Turcz. (syn.: A. trinervius D. Don subsp. ageratoides (Turcz.) Grierson) (E Asia) – A very rare and probably ephemeral escape from cultivation. In 2014 recorded, obviously self-sown, in Brugge (rough ground) and Blankenberge (cemetery). This species is now increasingly planted in public green and new records of it in the wild are to be expected. Contrary to Symphyotrichum, Aster ageratoides seems to reproduce sexually.
The taxonomy of this and related species is contested. Recent authors tend to subsume it under Aster trinervius (e.g. Yeo 2000, Chen & al. 2011).
In Europe Aster ageratoides is an exceptional escape from cultivation. Thellung (1913) reported about its cultivation and escape around Montpellier. The species has also been recorded in the British Isles (Clement & Foster 1994). According to Hoffman (1995) it was only rarely cultivated until recently but the newly introduced cultivar ‘Asran’ has become popular in recent times.
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Selected literature:
Chen Y.L., Brouillet L. & Semple J.C. (2011) Aster. In: Wu Z.Y. & Raven P.H. (eds.), Flora of China, vol. 20–21. Science Press, Beijing & Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis: 574-632. [available online at: http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=102902]
Clement E.J. & Foster M.C. (1994) Alien plants of the British Isles. BSBI, London: XVIII + 590 p.
Hoffman M.H.A. (1995) Aster (1). Dendroflora 32: 6-23.
Thellung A. (1913) Die in Mitteleuropa kultivierten und verwilderten Aster- und Helianthusarten nebst einem Schlüssel zur Bestimmung derselben. Allg. Bot. Zeitschr. 19: 87-89, 101-112, 132-140.
Yeo P.F. (2000) Aster. In: Cullen J. & al. (eds.), The European Garden Flora, vol. 6. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 570-578.