Aster

Due to the recent narrowing of the Aster genus, identifying asters can be difficult. Every aster species features composite flowers, meaning that the aster has a circular disc flower in the center, as well as several longer ray flowers that radiate out from the disc flower.
The ray flowers are often mistaken for flower petals, but they are actually individual flowers. In general, the disc flower of an aster will be yellow or brown in color, while color of the ray flowers varies greatly from one species to the next.
Asters generally have coarser stems which are often woody near the bottom. The leaves tend to be dark green, and are often long and narrow, much like the ray flowers.