Aster harrowianus Diels var. pycnophyllus (Franchet ex W. W. Smith) H. Léveillé.

Herbs, perennial, rhizomatous. Stems erect, 30-60 cm tall, flexuous, reddish, glabrescent below, moderately to densely strigose-villous above, usually branched only at synflorescence, more densely leafy above. Leaves cauline, thin, abaxially villous on veins, adaxially scabrous, both surfaces stipitate glandular, midvein ± prominent abaxially, lateral veins in 4 or 5 pairs, distinct; lower leaves absent at anthesis; middle and upper leaves petiolate; petiole 1-2(-4) cm, rarely subsessile; blade ovate to lanceolate, 7-13 × 2-2.5 cm, base truncate, rounded, or somewhat cordate, or attenuate, margin coarsely serrate (teeth mucronate), apex long acuminate (sometimes falcate); uppermost leaves smaller, narrowly ovate to lanceolate or linear. Capitula numerous in corymbiform synflorescences, 1.5-2 cm in diam.; peduncles 1-1.5 cm; bracts linear. Involucres campanulate, 4-5 × 6-8 mm; phyllaries 3- or 4-seriate, unequal, lanceolate to oblong, 2.8-4 × 0.6-0.8 mm, abaxially villosulous, apex acuminate, outer phyllaries purple, inner phyllaries with margin scarious, erose-fimbriate. Ray florets 10-30, purplish blue to nearly white, tube 1.8-2 mm, hairy, lamina 4-7 × 0.7-1.2 mm; disk florets yellow or sometimes purplish tinged, 4.2-5 mm, tube 1.2-1.6 mm, limb funnelform, tube, limb, and lobes hairy, lobes lanceolate, 1-1.1 mm. Achenes lanceoloid, compressed, 1.7-2 × ca. 0.7 mm, strigose, 2-ribbed. Pappus 3-seriate, dirty white; outer bristles slender, ca. 2.7 mm; inner bristles ca. 3.8 mm, acute; innermost bristles clavate. Fl. Jun-Oct, fr. Sep-Dec.

Subalpine slopes, grasslands, thickets; 1000-3800 m. Sichuan, E and SE Xizang, NW Yunnan [India, N Myanmar].