General: Biennial or short-lived perennial herb with a short, simple stem-base, rarely annual; stems erect, usually solitary, branched above, more or less hairy with long, spreading hairs, occasionally nearly glabrous, 20-70 cm tall.
Leaves: Basal leaves broadly oblanceolate to egg-shaped, coarsely round-toothed or lobed, rounded at the tips, hairy like the stems, narrowly tapering to a short stalk, 15-30 cm long, 1.5-12 cm wide; stem leaves similar, becoming reduced and unstalked upwards, clasping at the base, round- to sharp-toothed.
Flowers: Heads with ray and disk flowers, 1 to many in an open inflorescence, the disks 6-15 mm wide; involucres 4-6 mm tall; involucral bracts more or less stiff-hairy with flattened hairs or sometimes nearly glabrous, tapering to a slender tip, equal, light greenish or brownish with the translucent margins occasionally purplish; ray flowers numerous, about 150, deep pink to reddish-purple or white, 5-10 mm long, 0.2-0.6 mm wide; disk flowers 2.5-3.2 mm long.
Fruits: Achenes 2-nerved, sparsely hairy; pappus of 20-30 bristles, often shorter than the disk flowers.
Habitat Range: Moist to mesic grasslands, shrublands and open forests in the lowland, steppe and montane zones; frequent throughout all but NW BC; N to YT and NT, E to NF and S to FL, TX and CA.
Synonyms and Alternate Names: Erigeron philadelphicus var. glaber Henry Erigeron philadelphicus var. scaturicola (Fernald) Fernald Erigeron purpureus Aiton
