Prairie Aster
Symphyotrichum turbinellum
Aster family (Asteraceae)

Description: Flowers with violet ray florets. Flowers are apical and solitary at the end of long branches. These branches are covered with many, small bract-like leaves. Leaves lanceolate and slightly ovate with smooth margins. Plant 1 to 3 feet in height.

Range & Habitat: The Prairie Aster is a species of the prairies of the western parts of the eastern North America. Bushy Aster has the same small bractlike leaves on the flowering branches, but the number of flowers per branch is usually more than one, and the leaves are relatively thinner and longer. Iowa and Illinois in the north to Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana in the south. Dry prairie and open, dry woods. Flowering period: September - October.