serpentine aster

Symphyotrichum depauperatum is a perennial, herbaceous plant that may reach up to 50 centimeters (1+3⁄4 feet) tall, with 1–3 stems. The leaves are narrow and generally 2–4 centimeters (3⁄4–1+1⁄2 inches) long. The plant produces numerous flower heads in branched arrays, each head with 7–14 white or, rarely, pink ray florets surrounding 7–17 yellow disk florets.

S. depauperatum is adapted to serpentine barrens, an ecosystem with a high concentration of toxic metals in the soil. It has been found in Baltimore and Cecil Counties, Maryland; Granville County, North Carolina; and, Chester, Delaware, and Lancaster Counties, Pennsylvania. Serpentine aster has been called a "flagship species" of the unique serpentine ecosystem and was once thought to be endemic to these barrens, but it also has been found to occur in a disjoint population on diabase glades in Granville County, North Carolina.