9a. var. interior (Wiegand) G.L. Nesom

Aster lanceolatus var. interior (Wiegand) Semple & Chmiel.

A. simplex var. interior (Wiegand) Cronquist

Median and upper stem leaves mostly linear to narrowly elliptic, the margins entire or inconspicuously toothed. Inflorescences usually not appearing very leafy (owing to the relatively small size of the upper leaves), the branches with the heads often appearing relatively dense and racemose (occasionally all or mostly oriented toward the upper side of the branches). Heads appearing relatively small, mostly 1.0–1.5 cm in diameter (including the extended ray corollas) at flowering. Involucre 3–5 mm long. Ray florets 20–28, the corollas well developed, 5–9 mm long, white. Disc florets mostly 15–30, the corolla 3.0–3.5 mm long. 2n=48, 64. August–October.

Scattered sporadically nearly throughout the state but uncommon in the eastern portion of the Ozark Division and the Mississippi Lowlands (northeastern U.S. west to Nebraska and Oklahoma). Bottomland forests, mesic upland forests, swamps, bases and ledges of bluffs, banks of streams and rivers, margins of ponds and lakes, sloughs, and moist depressions in upland prairies; also pastures, fencerows, ditches, railroads, roadsides, and open, disturbed areas.