Aster mairei H. Léveillé; A. sherriffianus Handel-Mazzetti.

Herbs, perennial, 50-130 cm tall, rarely caespitose, rhizomatous. Stems erect-ascending, simple, reddish striate, villosulous, minutely long-stipitate glandular below leaves. Leaves cauline, gradually reduced upward, abaxially gray-green, adaxially green, abaxially tomentose, sometimes sparsely villous, densely minutely stipitate glandular, adaxially strigose, sparsely minutely stipitate glandular, margin serrate to serrulate, strigose-ciliate, midvein prominent abaxially, apex acute, mucronulate; lowest leaves withered by anthesis (unobserved); lower to upper leaves broadly and shortly petiolate (lower leaves) to sessile, ovate to elliptic or oblanceolate, 1.8-6 × 0.5-1.7 cm, base rounded or slightly auriculate to cuneate-rounded, sometimes subclasping; synflorescence leaf blade ovate to lanceolate, 1.3-2.5 × 0.4-0.7 cm, entire. Capitula 6-35 or more, in terminal corymbiform synflorescences; peduncles 10-35 mm, sparsely villosulous, densely minutely stipitate glandular (glands sometimes long stipitate); bracts absent or 1, oblanceolate, entire. Involucres broadly campanulate to hemispheric, 4-6 mm; phyllaries 3-seriate, unequal, distally green, distal margin and apex tip purple, abaxially glabrous, densely minutely stipitate glandular, base hardened, densely minutely stipitate glandular, midvein prominent, translucent; outer phyllaries linear-lanceolate, 3-4 × ca. 0.8 mm, margin narrowly scarious, eciliate, apex acute, mucronulate, proximally strigillose, sparsely long-stipitate glandular; middle and inner phyllaries oblong to lanceolate-oblong, 4.5-5.5 × 1.2-1.8 mm, margin broadly scarious, erose, eciliate, apex acuminate, erose. Ray florets 18-30, white or pale purple, lamina 5-9 × 1.5-2 mm, glabrous, eglandular; disk florets yellow, ca. 4.5 mm, limb campanulate, ca. 2.5 mm, base sparsely strigillose, sometimes sparsely minutely stipitate glandular, lobes erect to spreading, narrowly triangular, ca. 1.2 mm, glabrous, sparsely minutely stipitate glandular. Achenes obovoid, compressed, 2.5-3 mm, strigillose, sparsely minutely stipitate glandular, 2-ribbed. Pappus 3-seriate, reddish, of barbellate bristles; outermost bristles few, slender, 0.3-0.6 mm; inner bristles 3-3.5 mm, tapering; innermost bristles 4.2-4.7 mm, slightly clavate. Fl. and fr. Sep-Dec.

Alpine and subalpine forest margins, grasses, slopes, riverbanks, sandy places; 2200-3200 m. SW Sichuan, S Xizang, N and NW Yunnan [Bhutan, India (Sikkim), N Myanmar].