Perennials, 20-70 cm, colonial and cespitose, ± glaucous, sometimes stipitate-glandular distally; rhizomes woody, elongate and creeping, or short, erect, branched. Stems 1-7+, erect, sometimes branched proximally, straight, glabrous proximally, sometimes thinly scabridulous distally. Leaves cauline; proximal reduced, withering by flowering, firm; sessile; blades oblong or elliptic-oblong to lanceolate (sometimes narrowly), 40-120 × 5-25 mm, bases ± clasping, sometimes cuneate, main veins ± marked, margins entire, indurate, sparsely to densely scabridulous, apices acute to obtuse, mucronate (margins recurved at apex), faces glabrous. Heads 2-116+ usually in corymbiform, sometimes in open, paniculiform arrays. Peduncles glabrous to sometimes thinly scabridulous or villosulous; bracts 0-2, foliaceous, margins villose-ciliate or glabrous. Involucres campanulate, 6-9 mm. Phyllaries (15-35) in 4-5 series, keeled or rounded, ovate or oblong (outer) to lanceolate (inner), unequal, membranous, bases indurate, green zones in distal ¹ / 5 - ¹ / 3 or less (outer), reduced to midnerve or none (inner), margins erose, narrowly scarious, hyaline, sometimes purplish distally (inner), entire to villoso-ciliolate, apices ± appressed, obtuse or acute (outer), often purple and acute or acuminate (inner), sometimes apiculate, faces glabrous. Ray florets (8-)10-15(-19); corollas pale lavender, 8-18 × 0.7-1.3 mm. Disc florets 12-32; corollas yellow turning reddish purple, barely or not ampliate, 6.8-7.5 mm, tubes narrowly cylindric, shorter than funnelform throats, lobes spreading, lanceolate, 0.7-1.3 mm. Cypselae tan to stramineous, fusiform, ± compressed, 3.8-4.8 mm, ribs 7-10 (stramineous), faces glabrous or sparsely strigillose; pappi of (ca. 37) yellowish to cinnamonish bristles 6.4-7.2 mm.

Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Herbaceous perennials, to 70 cm tall, branching, herbage glabrous proximally, sometimes lightly rough distally, stems often reddish.

Leaves: Alternate, oblong or elliptic-oblong, faces glabrous, leaves bluish-green.

Flowers: Heads radiate, rays violet, purple, or white, 10-15, disk flowers 12-32, involucres campanulate, 6-9 mm, phyllaries glabrous, 15-35, peduncles with 0-2 foliaceous bracts, these glabrous or sometimes lightly scabrous or villous, the inflorescences borne in groups of 2-116 or more.

Fruits: Achenes small, brown, somewhat turbinate or cylindrical. Pappus of subequal capillary bristles, these mostly longer than the achene.

Ecology: Found on calcareous substrates, saline seeps at lower elevations, on rocky slopes, in sagebrush, pinyon-juniper, Douglas fir, lodgepole pine, and hanging gardens communities, from 3,000-8,000 ft (914-2438 m); flowering summer-fall.

Distribution: Arizona, Utah.

Notes: Look to the tall plants 50 cm or more in height, the violet, purple, or white rays, and the appressed, thick, oblong, phyllaries without conspicuous green tips to help identify this species. Online sources state that this species is difficult to identify as it tends to hybirdize, under the synonym Eucephalus glaucus. It is unclear whether this species exists at Gila Cliff Dwellings. It was vouchered in 1978 by Lambert, but the specimen has not been seen.

Ethnobotany: Unknown

Etymology: Herrickia is of uncertain origins, while glauca means glaucous.

Synonyms: Aster glaucodes, Aster glaucus, Eucephalus glaucus, Eurybia glauca

Editor: SBuckley 2010