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Himalayan Aster
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Himalayan Aster
ative Photo: Tabish
Common name: Himalayan Aster
Botanical name: Aster himalaicus    Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)
Synonyms: Aster mekongensis

Himalayan Aster is a low-growing spreading leafy perennial herb with solitary flower-head about 2.5 cm across, with numerous very narrow lilac ray-florets, and a yellow or purple-brown center. The bracts just below the flower-heads are ellpitic, leaf-like, recurved, hairy. Upper stem-leaves are narrow-elliptic, half-stem-clasping, sparsely hairy, entire to somewhat toothed. Lower leaves are obovate-spoon-shaped, long-stalked, all mostly 2.5-8 cm long. The plant has several leafy stems 8-15 cm tall, spreading from a thick branched rootstock. Fruit is silky and pappus white. Himalayan Aster is found on open slopes in Eastern Himalayas, from C. Nepal to Sikkim and SW China, at altitudes of 3600-4500 m. Flowering: July-August.

Identification credit: Tabish Photographed in Tawang distt., Arunachal.

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