Doellingeria (Eucephalus) elegans

Elegant Aster

Doellingeria elegans (Nutt.) Semple, Brouillet & G.A. Allen (Allen et al., Syst. Bot. 44: 939. 2019.) is native to open meadows, aspen forests, rocky open slopes in the mountains in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Utah.  The species is distinguished by its 30–70 cm tall scabrous stems, moderately scabrellous (and sometimes glandular) linear-oblong or linear-lanceolate leaves (2-6 cm long) on both faces, and 5-8 violet to purple rays. The species is diploid (2n=18).

The species was treated as Eucephaus elegans Nutt. (Allen 2006 FNA) and has often been treated Aster perelegans A. Nelson & J. F. Macbride and sometimes Eucephalus perelegans (A. Nelson & J. F. Macbride) W. A. Weber.