Botanical atlas

Bigleaf Aster

Eurybia macrophylla

Bigleaf aster is, first and foremost, a plant of the northern forest floor, one of the most familiar sights in a Great Lakes or New England woodland by late summer, when its pale lavender flowers rise above broad, heart-shaped leaves. Among the Ojibwe and other Anishinaabe peoples, whose homelands overlap much of its range, the root was gathered and prepared for a variety of traditional purposes recorded by ethnobotanists, from calming remedies for children to smoking mixtures blended with other plants. Because so little of that knowledge was written down by the communities who held it, and because modern research on the plant is thin, it survives today mostly as a garden and foraging favorite rather than a working household remedy.

In tradition.

Bigleaf aster is, first and foremost, a plant of the northern forest floor, one of the most familiar sights in a Great Lakes or New England woodland by late summer, when its pale lavender flowers rise above broad, heart-shaped leaves. Among the Ojibwe and other Anishinaabe peoples, whose homelands overlap much of its range, the root was gathered and prepared for a variety of traditional purposes recorded by ethnobotanists, from calming remedies for children to smoking mixtures blended with other plants. Because so little of that knowledge was written down by the communities who held it, and because modern research on the plant is thin, it survives today mostly as a garden and foraging favorite rather than a working household remedy.

Safety.

There is little modern research on this plant's safety when taken internally, so no ingestion use is recommended here. As an aster-family plant, its pollen and foliage may trigger reactions in people with ragweed sensitivities.