Showy aster, sometimes known as purple aster, although the ray 

 flowers are violet rather than purple, is a perennial which starts 

 blooming about the middle of July and continues until late Septem- 

 ber, or -even later if weather conditions permit. The specific name 

 coiispicuus, Latin for conspicuous, or remarkable, is appropriate for 

 this species, which produces its rather large yellow and violet flower 

 heads at a time w r hen but few other wild flowers add color to the 

 green and brown hues of the wooded hillsides. It ranges from Brit- 

 ish Columbia to Oregon, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Saskatche- 

 wan. It occurs in considerable abundance on the east slope of the 

 Cascade Mountains, but apparently does not grow in Washington 

 and Oregon west of the Cascade Mountains, although it has been re- 

 ported from Vancouver Island. Showy aster is confined chiefly to 

 the ponderosa pine and lodgepole pine belts. It may be common and 

 sometimes fairly abundant in aspen and open coniferous timber, 

 especially in lodgepole pine, and also occurs sparsely in moist rnrks 

 and old burns. 



This species is generally rated as fairly good to good sheep and 

 goat forage and as fair to fairly good cattle forage. Like practi- 

 cally all other asters, it is seldom grazed by horses. It is a fairly 

 large, leafy plant occurring rather abundantly and produces a con- 

 siderable amount of forage. Showy aster constitutes unusually good 

 fall and winter elk forage, and the new leaves are grazed by those 

 animals in spring. The species is especially important on fall and 

 winter elk ranges in Idaho and Montana. Showy aster is not aggres- 

 sive and does not tend to crowd out its associates to any great extent, 

 although considerable seed is produced and new plants also develop 

 from the stout, underground rootstocks. 



Stems of this species are erect, up to 3y 2 feet high, rigid, and leafy. 

 The leaves are relatively large and numerous, often 7 inches long 

 and 2,y 2 inches wide, with sharply toothed margins. The stem leaves 

 are without leafstalks, their bases often partly clasping the stem. 

 The leaves of the middle part of the stem are usually the largest. 

 The flower heads are borne on short-branched, glandular stalks in a 

 rounded or flat-topped cluster. The yellow disk flowers turn pur- 

 plish in drying. The green-tipped involucral bracts are in about five 

 rows, the outer ones being much shorter than the inner. 



