Plants robust. Involucres cam­pan­ulate, 5.5-7.5 mm. Phyllaries in 4-5 series, squarrose, acute to acuminate, sparsely strigillose, densely stipitate-glandular; mid 1-1.2 mm wide. 2n = 10, 20. Flowering (Aug-)Sept-Nov(-Dec). Sandy, loamy, shaley, or clayey soils, dry woods, open oak and pine woods, fields, roadsides, disturbed habitats; 0-100+ m; Ala., Ark., Conn., Del., D.C., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Kans., Ky., La., Maine, Md., Mass., Miss., Mo., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Okla., Pa., R.I., S.C., Tenn., Tex., Va., W.Va. Variety patens is found in the southern Central Lowland, the Appalachian Mountains, the Piedmont, and the Coastal Plains. Aster patens forma rosea Svenson is a color morph that is not recognized here.