Bushy aster

Symphyotrichum dumosum, the bushy aster or rice button aster, is a slender, much-branched perennial of the Asteraceae native to eastern and central North America. Plants grow 30-100 cm tall from short rhizomes, producing wiry, glabrous to minutely puberulent stems that branch widely in the upper portion to give a bushy, almost shrub-like silhouette. Stem leaves are linear to narrowly lanceolate, 2-10 cm long, entire to slightly toothed, becoming progressively smaller and bract-like on the floriferous branches. Numerous small flower heads are borne on leafy peduncles; each head holds 15-30 pale lavender, blue, or white ray florets surrounding a yellow disc that ages reddish-brown. Involucral bracts are imbricate in several series, with green diamond-shaped tips. Flowering occurs from late summer into autumn. It frequents dry to mesic open woods, fields, roadsides, and sandy clearings on the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains.