General:
Perennial herb from a stout stem-base and sometimes a taproot as well; stems several, ascending to erect, few-branched above, 20-50 cm tall.

Leaves:
Basal leaves reduced and scalelike; stem leaves soon deciduous below, the others uniform, elliptic to lance-elliptic or elliptic-oblong, 2-4 cm long, 4-13 mm wide, unstalked or shortly stalked, glandular-hairy, entire or nearly so.

Flowers:
Heads with ray and disk flowers, solitary or few at ends of branches or stems; involucres 7-10 mm tall; involucral bracts scarcely graduated, linear-lanceolate, with long-pointed tips, glandular-hairy or obscurely glandular or sparsely hairy, greenish above the base and narrowly purple-margined, fringed with small hairs; ray flowers commonly about 13, sometimes 8 or 21, white, 8-15 mm long; disk flowers yellow.

Fruits:
Achenes flattened, 4-nerved, grey-hairy; pappus white to tawny.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.

Illustration Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Aster engelmannii var. paucicapitatus B.L. Rob.
Aster paucicapitatus (B.L. Rob.) B.L. Rob.