and on the flower head branches which all have generally the same lanceolate appearance regardless of their location on the plant. The exception to this is the basal (bottom) leaves, which are usually spatulate or sometimes oblanceolate in shape. The lower stem leaves often wither or drop by the time the plant flowers. The leaf margins are sometimes entire, meaning they are smooth on the edges with no teeth or lobes, or ciliate, meaning fringed with fine hairs on their edges. They are sessile, having no leafstalk, and they are auriculate, clasping the stem with earlobe-like appendages. The leaves can vary in size, with the basal and distal (highest) leaves usually smaller than those occurring mid-stem. The basal leaves are sparsely hirsute and range wide. Stem leaves are generally lanceolate or oblong with pointed tips and have stipitate glands on both sides. They average in length by wide. The distal leaves are oblanceolate, also stipitate-glandular, and softly-pubescent. Distal leaves range in length by wide. Flowers Symphyotrichum novae-angliae is a late-summer and fall blooming perennial with flower heads opening as early as August in some locations and as late as November in others. The inflorescences grow in paniculo-corymbiform arrays, also called "cymose corymbs". These inflorescences have many leaves and are quite crowded, typically with one head at the end of each small branch. Each open flower head can be up to in diameter. Involucres and phyllaries On the outside the flower heads of all members of the family Asteraceae are small specialized leaves called "phyllaries", and together they form the involucre that protects the individual flowers in the head before they open. The involucres of S. novae-angliae are campanulate (bell-shaped) to hemispheric (half-spherical) and usually in length. The phyllaries are spreading and often reflexed and are covered with stipitate glands. They are in (sometimes up to 6) somewhat equal rows. Florets Each flower head is made up of ray florets and disk florets in about a one to one ratio, with the former accepting pollen before, and longer than, the latter. The ray florets grow in one, two, or multiple series and are usually deep purple, rarely pink or white. They average in length and wide. Ray florets in the Symphyotrichum genus are exclusively female, each having a pistil (with style, stigma, and ovary) but no stamen; thus, ray florets accept pollen and each can develop a seed, but they produce