Herbs, perennial, 15-120 cm tall; rhizomes long; adjacent rosettes often present. Stems erect to ascending, simple, striate, sometimes reddish, villosulous, minutely stipitate glandular, more densely so distally. Leaves cauline, usually gradually decreasing upward, abaxially pale green or silvery green, adaxially dark green, abaxially strigillose, adaxially glabrous or glabrate, or both surfaces strigillose, villosulous on veins, abaxially sparsely to densely minutely stipitate glandular, adaxially more abundantly so marginally, margin coarsely serrate to serrate (teeth mucronate), villosulous-ciliate, veins prominent abaxially or on both surfaces, apex mucronate; lowest leaves withered by anthesis or often present, long petiolate (petiole to 20 cm); blade broadly ovate or oblong to lanceolate, 4.5-12 × (2.5-)3.8-7(-10) cm, base cordate or rounded (or attenuate), apex rounded to obtuse; lower to upper leaves long to shortly petiolate; blade broadly to narrowly ovate or lanceolate, (3-)4-11 × (1.5-)3.2-11 cm, base rounded (or attenuate), apex obtuse to acute; synflorescence leaves shortly petiolate, narrowly ovate to lanceolate, 2.7-5.5 × 0.3-2.2 cm, base rounded (attenuate), margin serrulate to entire, apex acute. Capitula 7-36 in terminal corymbiform synflorescences, ca. 3 cm in diam.; peduncles 10-80 mm, glabrate to sparsely villosulous or strigillose, densely minutely stipitate glandular; bracts linear-lanceolate, entire. Involucres broadly campanulate, 5-11 × 10-15 mm; phyllaries 3-seriate, subequal, linear-lanceolate, 7-11 × 1.3-2.5 mm, abaxially sparsely villosulous along midvein to glabrous, moderately to densely minutely stipitate glandular or eglandular, base sometimes hardened, margin scarious (outer phyllaries narrowly scarious), erose, purplish, villosulous-ciliate, green, midvein slightly translucent, apex acuminate, tip purplish, ciliate. Ray florets 13-21(-25), lamina purple to bluish, 7.5-13 × 2.2-3 mm, glabrous, eglandular; disk florets yellow, 7.2-7.5 mm, tube green, sparsely strigillose, eglandular, limb funnelform, 7.2-7.5 mm, lobes spreading, sometimes tip recurved, narrowly triangular, 1.5-1.7 mm, purple tinged, glabrous or sparsely strigillose apically, sparsely glandular apically. Achenes obovoid, compressed, ca. 3.5 mm, sparsely strigillose, proximally sparsely to apically moderately to densely minutely stipitate glandular, 4-ribbed. Pappus 4-seriate, of red-brown, slender, barbellate bristles; outermost bristles 0-2, ca. 0.5 mm; outer bristles many, 1.2-4 mm; inner bristles 4-5.5 mm, tapering; innermost bristles 6-9, 7-8 mm, slightly clavate. Fl. Jul-Oct, fr. Aug-Dec.

Aster fuscescens is clearly divided into three varieties.

Alpine and subalpine meadows and grassy slopes among shrubs, bamboo-Rhododendron thickets, bamboo thickets in disturbed deciduous forests, meadows in broad-leaved evergreen forests, rocky slopes; 2700-4200 m. Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [NE Myanmar].