Eurybia macrophylla

Bigleaf Aster , aster à grandes feuilles

Eurybia macrophylla (L.) G.L. Nesom is native to moist to dry soils, hemlock-northern hardwoods, beech-maple or pine forests, Appalachian spruce-fir forests, aspen, pine or open spruce woodlands, thickets, clearings, shaded roadsides from southeastern Manitoba east to Nova Scotia and south to northern Georgia (Brouillet 2006 FNA).  The basal stem leaf blades are broadly ovate to ovate with cordate bases, the peduncles and phyllaries are stipitate-glandular, the innermost phyllaries are appressed on the large heads, and rays range from white to dark purple.  The species is highly varied in stem height and ray floret color and many segregate species were described but are now included in synonymy.  The species is octoploid (2n=72).