Eurybia macrophylla (Big Leaf Aster)

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. 3 vols. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York. Vol. 3: 412

WILD SEED PROJECT IS OFFERING SEEDS, SO THIS SPECIES IS NOT A PRIORITY.

Where Commonly Found:  Open woods, thickets, clearings, CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, RI, VT, Extremely rare in RI.
How to Identify:
(For unfamiliar words: Wikipedia Glossary of Botanical Terms).
Go Botany Key to Eurybia macrophylla
Missouri Botanical Garden description of Eurybia macrophylla.  Click on more images.

Flower Color:  Pale purple.
Flower Type:  Radial petals.  Flowerheads are 1/2″- 1″ wide with 9 – 20 rays, often strap-shaped rays around tubular disk flowers, daisy-like, arranged in flat, short-branched clusters.  Whorled bracts beneath flowers are hairy.
Flower Time:  Early August – late September.  
Leaf Arrangement:  Alternate leaves, stems are smooth or sparely hairy.  Stem bolts up from the basal leaves shortly before flowering.  Plant is about .5′ until then.
Leaf Type:  Simple, large leaves (Lumberjack toilet paper).  2″- 12″ long and broad, thick, rough textured basal leaves, heart-shaped, teethed, with long petioles.  Upper leaves are smaller, often sessile.
Height:  .5′ – 2.5′
Seed Collection: when flowers fade and seeds ripen.

Attracts:  Butterflies, Larval Host
Use:  Garden, Rain Garden or Naturalizing
Light:  Part Shade to Shade
Hardiness Zone:  4 to 8  USDA Zone Map
Soils:  Moist
Notes:  A wild aster with large fuzzy leaves nick-named Lumberjack Toilet Paper, forming a dense ground cover in rich woods.  Host to the Pearl Crescent
Native to Northeast (RARE IN RI), Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest, US:  Biota of North American Program (BONAP) – North America Plant Atlas (NAPA).