Eurybia spectabilis

Eastern Showy Aster

Eurybia spectabilis (Ait.) G.L. Nesom  is native to mostly sandy soils, sometimes dry clay, granite outcrops, dry, oak-pine woods, pine barrens, peat bogs, borders of woods, clearings, fields, roadsides on the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Massachusetts south to North Carolina where the range turns southwest to the Piedmont in South Carolina, Georgia and northeastern Alabama (Brouillet 2006 FNA). It also occurs in disjunct populations on the outer Coastal Plain in South Carolina.  The species is distinguished from similar species by it large heads with squarrose densely stipitate-glandular phyllaries.  The species is of conservation concern through its range. The species is octaploid 2n=72.

Hybrids with E. macrophylla occur and have been name E. ×herveyi (Brouillet 2006 FNA).