Eurybia integrifolia

Thickstem aster

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Thickstem aster is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, and Warner Mountains in dry meadows and open forest at elevations of 1,600 to 3,200 meters. Flowering from July to September, this plant produces violet-purple ray flowers 10 to 15 millimeters long in distinctive elongate clusters. Growing with erect stems 15 to 70 centimeters tall that are glandular in the upper portions, it develops from short, somewhat woody rhizomes. Its leaves range from long-petioled basal leaves that are lance-ovate to obovate to cauline leaves that are lanceolate and clasping at the base, with most leaves remaining green and glabrous to slightly hairy. The plant's inflorescence features phyllaries with spreading tips that are densely glandular, with outer phyllaries green to the base and inner phyllaries green at the tip and subtly purple-tinged.

Habitat: dry meadows, open forest

Bloom period: Jul-Sep

Elevation: 1600-3200 m

Bioregions: KR, CaR, SN, Wrn

California counties: Tulare, Mono, Modoc, Fresno, Amador, Lassen, Calaveras, Madera, Shasta, Tehama, Mariposa, Alpine, El Dorado, Plumas, Nevada, Sierra, Placer, Tuolumne, Siskiyou, Butte

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