Symphyotrichum novae-angliae ‘Marina Wolkonsky’ (New England aster)

New England aster is native to most of North America east of the Rocky Mountains. This cultivated variety may be named for Princess Marina Wolkonsky, who was born in 1946, but I could find almost no information on it.

Leaves: alternate, hairy, spatula-shaped, with their bases slightly wrapped around the stem. They are usually smooth, but may have shallow teeth, and are ¾–2 ⨉ ⅛–½″ (2–6 cm ⨉ 5–15 mm).

Flowers: Attractive flowers occur in dense, highly branched clusters atop the plants. Each flower consists of a yellow disk flower in the center, surrounded by 45-100 thin ray flowers that in this cultivar are a deep, vibrant purple.

Fruits: Seeds, technically cypselae, are dull purple or brown, oblong, 1/16–⅛ ⨉ ~1/32″ (1.8–3 ⨉ 0.6–1 mm), with 7-10 nerves. Seeds have tufts of hair and are distributed by the wind.

The references below are for the natural plant, since information on the cultivar was lacking.

9/7/2010 · New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, Boylston, Massachusetts · ≈ 1½ × 1′ (52 × 34 cm)

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin)
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Asteridae	A large class that encompasses asters
Order	Asterales	Flowering plants with a central disk flower and surrounding petals, like daisies
Family	Asteraceae	The aster family, which also includes daisies and sunflowers; from the Greek ἀστήρ, “star,” for the star-shaped flowers
Genus	Symphyotrichum	From Greek symphysis, “borne together or growing together, coalescing,” and trichinos, “hair, a single hair”
Species	novae-angliae	“New England”

About plant names...

Range: Zones 3-8:

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Symphyotrichum novae-angliae ‘Marina Wolkonsky’ description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.