Klickitat aster

Aster engelmannii (D. C. Eaton) A. Gray var. glaucescens A. Gray in A. Gray et al., Syn. Fl. N. Amer. 1(2): 200. 1884 (as engelmanni); A. glaucescens (A. Gray) S. F. Blake; A. glaucophyllus (Piper) Frye & Rigg; A. serrulatus (Greene) Frye & Rigg; Eucephalus glaucophyllus Piper; E. serrulatus Greene

Perennials, 40–160 cm (with caudices; herbage glabrous, ± glaucous). Stems erect, glabrous. Leaves: mid and distal blades linear to narrowly lance-elliptic, 4–10 cm × 4–16 mm. Heads 5–20(–60) in racemiform to paniculiform arrays. Peduncles glabrous or sparsely stipitate-glandular. Involucres turbinate to campanulate, 7–9 mm. Phyllaries in 3–5 series (reddish distally), linear to lanceolate or lance-ovate (unequal), apices acuminate, abaxial faces sparsely stipitate-glandular. Rays commonly 8 or 13, purple. Cypselae obconic, flattened, strigose; pappus bristles in 2 series, smooth or ± barbellate.

Flowering Jul–Sep(–Oct). Open coniferous woods, meadows, brushy slopes; of conservation concern; 800–1500 m; Wash.

Eucephalus glaucescens is known from the vicinity of Mt. Adams in Klickitat, Skamania, and Yakima counties. Intermediates with E. ledophyllus have been reported.