Symphyotrichum urophyllum

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Perennial. Stems are solitary or clustered from a branched caudex or from short rhizomes; glabrous toward the base, becoming pubescent in lines upwards. Typical height is from 2 to 4 feet.

The inflorescence is often narrow and peaked, with crowded, sharply ascending branches. Flower heads tend to be crowded on branches.

Flower heads are radiate. Rays are white. Disc floret corollas are pale yellow, turning pink to magenta with age. Involucral bracts are linear to narrowly lanceolate, appressed to slightly spreading. Dark green zones are narrow, tapering gradually to a strip along the midvein.

Basal and lower stem leaves, if present at flowering, vary from heart-shaped to ovate, and are borne on long, winged-petioles. Mid- to upper stem leaves are ovate or lance-ovate, becoming progressively smaller and narrower upward, with a tendency to taper to winged petioles.

Plants of dry to mesic old fields, roadsides and open, disturbed areas. Flowers late August through September. Native.

Similar species: Symphyotrichum lowrieanum and S. cordifolium.