Brickellbush aster

Sericocarpus tomentellus Greene, Pittonia 1: 283. 1889; Aster brickellioides Greene; A. tomentellus (Greene) Frye & Rigg; Eucephalus bicolor Eastwood; E. brickellioides (Greene) G. L. Nesom

Perennials 40–90 cm (caudices woody). Stems erect, woolly or cottony. Leaves: mid and distal blades lanceolate to elliptic, 2.5–6 cm × 7–20 mm, abaxial faces ± densely woolly to cottony, adaxial glabrous or glabrate. Heads 3–40 in racemiform to paniculiform arrays. Peduncles pubescent. Involucres turbinate, 7–10 mm. Phyllaries in 4–6 series (often reddish at margins and apices), linear-oblong to ovate (strongly unequal), apices acute, abaxial faces tomentose to stipitate-glandular. Rays (0–)1–3(–6), violet-purple. Cypselae glabrous or pilose; pappus bristles in 2 series, ± barbellate.

Flowering Jul–Aug. Open oak or coniferous woods, forest openings and rocky cliffs; 1300–2400 m; Calif., Oreg.

Eucephalus tomentellus grows in the Siskiyou Mountains of southwestern Oregon and northern California. It may intergrade with E. breweri and E. glabratus.