Single Record

Comments: NEED IN SITU PHOTOS. Of alpine aster, the one voucher collection was made by B. E. Willard in 1968, a plant he found in Mineral Co above Creede: "Upper Rat Creek through Spring Creek Divide." Clearly a glacial relict, this survivor species is present in one Wyoming county, one Montana county, one Idaho county, and in several Colorado counties (Eagle, Gilpin, Grand, Gunnison, Huerfano, Lake, and Summit). Aster alpinus is the only USA member of the Aster genus, which contains some 185 species around the world. The subspecies vierhapperi is the form found in the USA. Aster alpinus can be distinguished from the other Watershed genera that used to be included in Aster (Almutaster, Eucephalus, Herrickia, and Symphyotrichum) by its cluster of oblanceolate to spatulate basal leaves and a few shorter and linear-lanceolate cauline leaves. POWO shows the USA distribution of Aster alpinus subsp. vierhapperi as a narrow southward presence in Idaho, Wyoming, and Colorado, and a disjunct presence around the Great Lakes. Note that the designation of the species as "dwarf alpine" (Weber and Wittman) (Schneider) has been qualified by recent locations that take the elevation down to around 8,600.'