General:
Perennial herb from a slender rhizome; stems several to many, ascending to decumbent, sparsely to copiously short-hairy, simple to branched above, 3-50 cm tall.

Leaves:
Basal leaves soon deciduous; stem leaves usually reduced below, the middle ones unstalked, oblanceolate, 1.5-10 cm long, 4-35 mm wide, sparsely to copiously short-hairy on the lower surfaces, with few to many small teeth or entire.

Flowers:
Heads with ray and disk flowers, solitary to many in a compact inflorescence; involucres 6-16 mm tall; involucral bracts more or less graduated in several series, oblong or lance-oblong to linear, abruptly sharp-pointed to with long-pointed tips, fine-hairy on the back or rarely glabrous, thin, dry and papery below, evidently or obscurely green-tipped and more or less purple-margined or suffused white-purple; ray flowers 10-25, purple, 8-15 mm long; disk flowers yellow, 5.5-7.6 mm long, the tube equal or barely exceeding the slender limb.

Fruits:
Achenes strongly about 8-ribbed, sparsely stiff-hairy; pappus deep brownish, rarely yellowish or 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

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Aster behringensis Gandog.
Aster meritus A. Nelson
Aster richardsonii Spreng.
Aster sibiricus subsp. meritus
Aster sibiricus subsp. richardsonii (Spreng.) A. L÷ve & D. L÷ve
Aster sibiricus var. giganteus (Hook.) A. Gray
Aster sibiricus var. meritus (A. Nelson) Raup
Eurybia sibirica var. gigantea (Hook.) G.L. Nesom