Eurybia macrophylla is a perennial herb, 20-120 cm, colonial from a rhizome with many tufts of large leaves on short, non-flowering stems, often forming a ground cover in early and mid-summer.
Leaves alternate, mostly basal, stalks elongate, blades 4-30 cm long, 3-20 cm wide, heart-shaped, tip pointed, base lobed, margins with bristle-tipped teeth, upper leaves of flowering stems abruptly reduced, egg-shaped, stalkless.
Flowers white to pale blue, daisy-like, rays 9-20, 0.7-1.5 cm long, disc flowers yellow becoming red-purple, bracteate base of flower head 0.7-1 cm long, bracts overlapping, glandular-hairy; inflorescence broad, more-or-less flat topped, branches usually glandular; blooms Aug.-Sept.; insect pollinated.
Fruit dry, 1-seeded, achene, with tuft of hairs (pappus); wind dispersed after leaf fall.
Wetland status: UPL.
Frequency in NYC: Infrequent.
Origin: Native.
Habitat: Undisturbed understory of upland forests. Tolerant of high, dappled shade. Soil pH 4.9-6.9 (USDA-NRCS. 2005).