The colors below indicate the kind of documentation available for this species
in the California counties where it occurs.
Western Mountain Aster Aster occidentalis (Asteraceae)
An introductory text would tell you that a sunflower such as this Aster is really a bouquet of many flowers. The outer violet petals are in fact ray florets (small flowers). They are sterile but serve to attract pollinators such as bees. The central area consists of disk florets. Male pollen-bearing flowers are at the bull's eye of the target pattern. Female seed-producing flowers form a circle around the bullseye. Because the aster is not a single flower but, in fact, consists of numerous flowers, it is referred to as a "compound inflorescence".
DISTRIBUTION: Meadows from northwestern Calif. through the Sierra Nevada south to the Transverse and Peninsular Ranges east to the Great Basin Province; 1200-2800 m.
