Aster dahuricus (Candolle) Bentham ex Baker; A. dahuricus subsp. yamatsutanus (Kitagawa) Kitagawa; A. yamatsutanus Kitagawa; Galatella macrosciadia Gandoger; G. songorica Novopokrovsky; G. songorica var. angustifolia Novopokrovsky; G. songorica var. discoidea Y. Ling & Y. L. Chen; G. songorica var. latifolia Y. Ling & Y. L. Chen; G. tarbagatensis Novopokrovsky.

Herbs, perennial, 20-100 cm tall, densely shortly papilliform hairy, glabrate in lower part; rhizome long, slender, or thick. Stems solitary or several, erect or ascending, purplish at base, branched upward, branches slender, ascending, sometimes sparsely sessile glandular. Leaves dense, lower often withered at anthesis, mid sessile, blade oblong or oblong-lanceolate to linear-lanceolate or linear, (3-)4-5.5(-7) × 0.1-1.4 cm, both surfaces or only adaxially gland-dotted, 1- or 3-veined, base attenuate, margin scabrous, apex acuminate to long acuminate; upper blade linear-lanceolate to linear, ± reduced upward, 3-veined (lateral 2 sometimes faint), sometimes 1-veined. Capitula numerous, in dense to lax corymbiform synflorescences, rarely solitary, (3-)10-15 × (5-)15-25 mm; peduncles slender; bracts 1 or 2, linear, densely papillose. Involucre broadly campanulate or broadly obconic to subhemispheric, 3-6 × 5-10 mm; phyllaries 3- or 4-seriate, yellow-green, imbricate, abaxially papillose to glabrate or glabrous, membranous, margin fimbriate, villous-ciliate, back sometimes rounded, outer short, green area wide, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 1-veined, margin leafy textured, apex acute, innermost larger, oblong to oblong-lanceolate, usually 3-veined, margin scarious, apex rounded to obtuse or sometimes acute, sometimes pinkish tinged. Ray florets 10-20, pinkish or pale violet, tube ca. 2 mm, lamina 10-16 × 1.5-3 mm, glabrous; disk florets 20-40(-80), pale yellow, sometimes becoming purplish tinged, 6-8 mm, limb funnelform, lobes lanceolate. Achenes lanceolate or oblong, 2-4 mm, ± densely strigose. Pappus whitish or dirty white to yellowish, 5-8 mm. Fl. Jul-Sep.

Y. Ling and Y. L. Chen (FRPS 74: 269. 1985) regarded Galatella songorica as distinct from G. macrosciadia based on the more numerous capitula with smaller, differently shaped phyllaries, and on distribution. Such differences may be the result of phenotypic plasticity, a trade-off between the number and size of capitula in different ecological conditions, such as higher elevations. On the other hand, Koroljuk (in Krasnoborov, Fl. Siberia 13: 39-43. 2007) reduced G. songorica and G. macrosciadia to synonyms of G. dahurica. Measurements among these taxa overlap significantly, and we are recognizing a single entity, as does Koroljuk.

Y. Ling and Y. L. Chen (loc. cit.: 269, 360-361) recognized four, mostly rare, varieties in Galatella songorica: G. songorica var. songorica, G. songorica var. discoidea, G. songorica var. angustifolia, and G. songorica var. latifolia. The type of G. songorica var. discoidea is a specimen with immature, unopened capitula, and it is impossible to determine whether or not they are discoid; the distinguishing features are all based on the capitula, and the variety does not appear to warrant recognition. Galatella songorica var. angustifolia and G. songorica var. latifolia are both based on leaf width, a plastic character. The type (and single specimen seen) of G. songorica var. latifolia is from moister places, and this may be responsible for the slightly greater width of leaves. Both of these varieties appear to represent extremes of leaf variation and hardly appear to warrant recognition, at least until more material is collected and a morphometric study is done.

Meadows, grasslands on slopes, dry mountain slopes, stony slopes, forest margins, roadsides; 500-3900 m. Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia (Far East, Siberia), Uzbekistan].