Dieteria canescens var. shastensis

Shasta aster

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Shasta aster is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, Cascade Range, northern Sierra Nevada, central Sierra Nevada, Modoc Plateau, and White and Inyo Mountains in montane areas at elevations of 1,500 to 3,400 meters. Flowering from July to September, this plant produces white or pale lavender ray-less disk flowers in compact heads 6 to 12 millimeters long. Growing with spreading to erect stems 10 to 50 centimeters tall, it forms loosely branched clusters with ascending side branches. Its leaves are distributed along the stems, typically narrow and grayish-green, giving the plant a soft, canescent appearance. The plant produces multiple flower heads with involucres 6 to 9 millimeters long, arranged in loose clusters characteristic of mountain habitats.

Habitat: Montane areas

Bloom period: Jul-Sep

Elevation: 1500-3400 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoRH, CaR, n SN, c SNH, MP, W&ampI

California counties: Mono, Modoc, Alpine, Glenn, Placer, Sierra, Tehama, Trinity, Tuolumne, El Dorado, Lassen, Nevada, Plumas, Shasta, Siskiyou, Mendocino, Colusa, Lake, Ventura, Inyo

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.