# flat-top white aster

*Doellingeria umbellata*

Its flat-topped flower clusters (corymbs) act as perfect landing pads for heavy-bodied pollinators like bumblebees.

- **Taxonomy:** Plantae › Tracheophyta › Magnoliopsida › Asterales › Asteraceae › Doellingeria
- **IUCN Red List status:** Least Concern
- **Population trend:** stable
- **Biome:** wetland
- **Habitat:** Wet meadows, swamps, fens, and damp open woodlands.
- **Diet:** Autotrophic (photosynthetic)
- **Range:** Eastern North America, Northeastern United States, Southeastern Canada
- **Size:** Up to 2 meters (6.5 feet) in height
- **Lifespan:** Perennial (individual root systems can live for many years)
- **Active:** diurnal
- **Threats:** Wetland drainage, development, and encroachment by invasive plant species.
- **Safe to approach?:** Harmless. This plant is safe to approach and touch. It has no stinging hairs or toxic sap, making it a wonderful subject for nature photography. Do not consume wild plants.

## About

Doellingeria umbellata , known by the common names tall flat-topped white aster , parasol whitetop , or tall white-aster , is a North American plant species in the aster family. It is native to Canada (from Alberta to Newfoundland), St. Pierre and Miquelon, and the eastern and north-central United States (from Nebraska and the Dakotas east to Maine and South to Mississippi, Georgia and the Florida Panhandle.

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/d816caa7-2787-479b-be94-70b2b0ded6fe
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/120179
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doellingeria umbellata
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/354067858/medium.jpeg (Michael J. Papay, CC-BY, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.