General:
Perennial herb from a fibrous-rooted rhizome or branched, woody stem-base; stems erect, branched above, glandular or sparsely long-hairy to glabrous, 0.5-1.5 m tall.
Leaves:
Basal leaves reduced and scalelike below; stem leaves numerous and nearly alike, lanceolate or elliptic to egg-shaped, unstalked, entire or nearly so, closely reticulate, subglabrous or sometimes glandular or somewhat hairy below, 5-10 cm long, 1.5-3.5 cm wide.
Flowers:
Heads with ray and disk flowers, few to many in a rounded inflorescence; involucres 8-12 mm tall; involucral bracts graduated with a strong midvein, tending to be keeled, linear to lanceolate, with long-pointed tips or the inner abruptly sharp-pointed, papery below, greenish above, the inner purple-margined and marginally fringed with long hairs; ray flowers commonly 13, sometimes only 8, white, often pink with age, sometimes mauve, 15-25 mm long; disk flowers yellow.
Fruits:
Achenes appressed-hairy; pappus tawny with a few outer bristles.
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:
White
Blooming Period:
Early Summer
Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Brown
Present over the Summer
Source: The USDA
Site Information |
Value / Class |
||
Avg |
Min |
Max |
|
Elevation
(metres) |
1686 | 937 | 2240 |
Slope
Gradient (%) |
38 | 0 | 100 |
Aspect (degrees) |
178 | 10 | 360 |
Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
3 | 0 | 7 |
Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
C | ||
#
of field plots species was recorded in: |
164 | ||
Modal
BEC Zone Class |
ESSF | ||
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
AT(14), ESSF(115), ICH(17), IDF(4), IMA(1), MS(12) | ||
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Aster elegans var. engelmannii D.C. Eaton
Aster engelmannii (D.C. Eaton) A. Gray