General:
Perennial herb from a creeping rhizome or stem-base; stems erect, stiff-hairy, at least above, simple or branched above, usually reddish-purple, 0.5-1.5 m tall.

Leaves:
Basal leaves few, soon deciduous; stem leaves lanceolate to oblong, 6-16 cm long, with clasping, ear-like flanges at the base, distantly toothed or rarely entire, scabrous to glabrous above, often hairy along the midrib below.

Flowers:
Heads with ray and disk flowers, few to more commonly many in a leafy inflorescence; involucres 6-12 mm tall; involucral bracts slender, loose, scarcely graduated, some of the outer sometimes leaflike but narrow; ray flowers 30-60, blue, rarely white or rose, 7-12 mm long; disk flowers yellow.

Fruits:
Achenes glabrous or nearly so; pappus white.

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

Flower Colour:
Blue

Blooming Period:
Fall

Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Brown
Present over the Fall

Source:  The USDA

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Aster calderi B. Boivin
Aster conduplicatus Burgess
Aster firmus Nees
Aster forwoodii S. Watson
Aster lucidulus (A. Gray) Wiegand
Aster puniceus L.
Aster puniceus subsp. firmus (Nees) A.G. Jones
Aster puniceus var. calderi (B. Boivin) Lepage
Aster puniceus var. calvus Shinners
Aster puniceus var. compactus Fernald
Aster puniceus var. demissus Lindl.
Aster puniceus var. firmus (Nees) Torr. & A. Gray
Aster puniceus var. lucidulus A. Gray
Aster puniceus var. oligocephalus Fernald
Aster puniceus var. perlongus Fernald
Aster puniceus var. puniceus
Symphyotrichum firmum (Nees) G.L. Nesom
Symphyotrichum puniceum var. calderi (B. Boivin) G.L. Nesom