Family: aster family (Asteraceae)
Bloom time: July–October
Size: 30–70 cm
Habitat: dry pastures, scree, rocky areas and forest edges
An upright, short-haired stem of mountain aster (Aster amellus) is leafy with broadly lanceolate leaves. The stem, which bears several heads, is branched in its upper part. Its leaves, mostly entire, are clothed with stiff, protruding hairs – the leaves are bristly-haired. Its flower heads (capitula) measure 2 to 4 cm in diameter. In the heads, yellow tubular flowers are surrounded by pale blue-violet ligulate (ray) flowers. The involucral bracts of its flowers are modified into a hood-shaped appendage in the shape of a crescent. The mountain aster can bloom in late summer and autumn on barren, dry basic soils in sunny places.
It is widespread across almost all of Slovenia, missing only in Pomurje and the densely forested Kočevska region.
