symphyotrichum's Identifications

aff.
On a dry limestone bluff, no tubers found, specimen collected. Some question about debile vs dioicum, leaf size, habitat, and overall height keyed to debile- and honestly I'd have called it debile but for the lack of tubers.

Bartram Trail, Scaly Mountain, North Carolina

On a steep seep on a rock face lightly covered in mostly sphagnum moss and fallen leaves.

More than a decade ago, whilst visiting Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden, Miami, Florida, I encountered the beautiful Paint-By-Numbers tree who's bark is colorfully and markedly adorned as suggested by it s name. What a surprise to find a near-facsimile on the side of a North Carolina mountain. Not many Vaccinium arboreum have bark as lovely as this.