Aster diplostephioides (Candolle) C. B. Clarke subsp. farreri (W. W. Smith & Jeffrey) Onno; A. nigrotinctus Y. Ling; A. vilmorinii Franchet var. nigrotinctus (Y. Ling) Y. Ling; Erigeron farreri (W. W. Smith & Jeffrey) Botschantzev.

Herbs, perennial, 30-60 cm tall, sometimes caespitose; rhizome long, slender, sometimes adjacent rosettes present, sometimes collar clad in basal marcescent leaves. Stems erect, simple, sparsely to moderately villous, sparsely minutely stipitate glandular, densely so upward, leafy. Leaves basal and cauline, sparsely villous, eglandular, margin entire or sparsely serrulate, villous-ciliate, midvein abaxially prominent; basal leaves absent at anthesis; basal and lower cauline leaves long petiolate (petiole to 7 cm); blade oblanceolate to narrowly oblanceolate, 1.5-16(-22) × 0.7-2.3 cm, base attenuate, apex acute; middle cauline leaves linear-lanceolate, 7-13 × 0.7-2 cm, base rounded, subclasping to clasping, apex acuminate; upper leaves linear, ca. 2 × 0.1 cm, apex acute. Capitula terminal, solitary, 5-8 cm in diam. Involucres hemispheric, 2-2.4 cm in diam.; phyllaries 3-seriate, subequal, linear-lanceolate, 10-16 × 1-1.5 mm, often surpassing disk florets, membranous, margin narrowly scarious, erose, ciliate, multiveined, apex acuminate, spreading; outer phyllaries abaxially villous, eglandular; innermost phyllaries colorless, glabrate, tip villous. Ray florets 75-121, purplish blue or lilac, tube distally sparsely minutely stipitate glandular, lamina 17-30 × 1-1.2 mm; disk florets yellow, 6.5-7 mm, tube and proximal limb minutely stipitate glandular, limb narrowly funnelform, ca. 5 mm, sometimes sparsely hairy proximally, lobes erect, triangular, 0.7-1 mm. Achenes narrowly obovoid, 3-4 mm, sparsely to moderately strigillose, eglandular, 4-ribbed. Pappus 4-seriate; outermost series of few white scales 0.3-1 mm; bristles dirty white, barbellate; outer bristles slender, 2-4 mm; inner bristles 5-5.5 mm, acute; innermost bristles 6-8 mm, weakly clavate. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Aug-Sep.

Aster farreri is distinguished from A. diplostephioides by its narrow, eglandular phyllaries, often overtopping the disk florets, and very narrow leaves.

● Subalpine grasslands or meadows, open slopes, open Picea woodlands, forest margins, Rhododendron and shrub thickets, roadsides; 1300-4100 m. SE Gansu, N Hebei, E Qinghai, Shanxi, W Sichuan.