Perennial, erect, rhizomatous herbs, stems terete, 10-25 cm tall, stems unbranched or branched upward, scabrous. Radical leaves lanceolate-oblong to elliptic, apex acute, base cuneate to winged petiole, 1-2 cm long, 5-10 mm wide, margins sparsely mucronulate-serrate, hispid on both surfaces, lower surface glandular; petiole 1-1.5 cm long. Medium cauline leaves elliptic to lanceolate-oblong, 1-2.5 cm long, 4-10 mm wide, nearly sessile, remotely mucronulate-serrate, hispid and scarcely glandular on both surfaces, upper leaves gradually smaller. Heads 1-2 cm across, few in loose corymbs, or sometimes solitary and terminal; peduncle ca. 1-3 cm long, densely scabrescent. Involucre hemispheric to campanulate, ca. 4.5 mm tall, 5.5-6.3 mm across. Bracts 3- or 4-seriate, linear to narrowly lanceolate, outer bracts smaller, ca. 3 mm long, inner bracts 4-4.5 mm long, ca. 0.5 mm wide, puberulous on outer surface, herbaceous, green, sometimes purplish. Ray florets 10-18, in one row, ligules white, 4.5-5.5 mm long, ca. 1 mm wide. Disc florets yellow, ca. 4 mm long. Achenes oblong, compressed, ca. 2 mm long, sericeous, pappus pale tawny, 3-4 mm long. Fl. (Mar-) Jun-Jul (-Aug).

HUALIEN: Panpien to Chilai, Shimizu 11348; Mt. Chingshui, Liao s. n. 1978 (Holotype!), Leu 1773, Ho 1251.

Endemic; sunny, gravelly, limestone ridges; 2,000-2,500 m, rare.

Aster chingshuiensis has oblong leaves with acute apices, and is distinguished from A. morrisonensis which has lanceolate leaves with acuminate apices. Plants collected around Mt. Luanshan are similar to A. chingshuiensis. They grow in the same habitat as A. chingshuiensis on limestone in high mountains, but they have more leaves evenly scattered on the stems, shorter nodes, thicker leaves and more evident veins than A. chingshuiensis on Mt. Chingshui. It seems reasonable to refer to these plants as A. chingshuiensis for the time being, but further research on the plants of Mt. Luanshan is needed. The specimens are as below:
Aster chingshuiensis has oblong leaves with acute apices, and is distinguished from A. morrisonensis which has lanceolate leaves with acuminate apices. Plants collected around Mt. Luanshan are similar to A. chingshuiensis. They grow in the same habitat as A. chingshuiensis on limestone in high mountains, but they have more leaves evenly scattered on the stems, shorter nodes, thicker leaves and more evident veins than A. chingshuiensis on Mt. Chingshui. It seems reasonable to refer to these plants as A. chingshuiensis for the time being, but further research on the plants of Mt. Luanshan is needed. The specimens are as below:
Hualien: Lanshan, Tamura et al. 21643, Tamura et al. 21599, Hsu & Hsu 3666. One specimen collected between Chilai and Shuilien (Liu 1544) is intermediate between the plants of Mt. Chingshui and Lanshan.