General:
Perennial herb from a compact, multibranched stem-base; stems sparsely to densely stiff-hairy with long, white, partitioned, spreading hairs and usually sparsely to densely glandular-hairy as well, often densely woolly-hairy just below the heads, these hairs sometimes with purplish crosswalls, 2-7 cm tall.

Leaves:
Basal leaves 0.3-1.6 cm long, mostly three-lobed, rarely two-lobed or entire, the basal segments 0.5-1 mm wide, the sides parallel, the lobes 2-6 mm long, oblong to egg-shaped, obtuse to abruptly sharp-pointed, coarsely fringed with small hairs, sparsely to densely stiff-hairy above and below and sometimes glandular as well, previous year's leaves persistent; stem leaves scalelike, single or often lacking.

Flowers:
Heads with ray and disk flowers, solitary; involucres 5-7 mm tall; involucral bracts densely stiff-hairy with long, white, partitioned hairs, these often with inconspicuous, purplish crosswalls, often sparsely to densely glandular-hairy as well, purplish or sometimes purple-tipped, narrowly lanceolate, tapering to a slender tip; ray flowers 15-30, white or blue to purplish-blue, 6-10 mm long, 0.5-1.5 mm wide; disk flowers 3.5-4.5 mm long.

Fruits:
Achenes nerveless, sparsely to densely hairy; pappus of 15-20 bristles.

Notes:
Collections of this species have previously been identified as Erigeron compositus var. discoideus or E. trifidus.

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