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Family: Asteraceae (Aster / Sunflower family)
Mid-Atlantic bloom time: late July - October
Mistflower is a perennial that can grow up to a meter, although it usually is less than half that height. Its delicate florets range in color from bright blue or violet, to red-purple, or occasionally even white. The flat-topped clusters of flowerheads can be up to 10 cm wide, containing 4-–50 disk florets.
Mistflower used to be classified in the Eupatorium genus, but phylogenetic analyses has indicated that it and its close kin should be moved to a new separate genus Conoclinium.1
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31 July 2015
Manassas National Battlefield Park, Manassas, VA 
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31 July 2015
Manassas National Battlefield Park, Manassas, VA 
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31 July 2015
Manassas National Battlefield Park, Manassas, VA (leaf shape) 
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14 July 2019
Oxbow Farm, Front Royal, VA (note individual flowers in each floret) 
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3 August 2015
Manassas National Battlefield Park, Manassas, VA 
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14 September 2024
Manassas National Battlefield Park, Manassas, VA 
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References
1: Gregory J. Schmidt, Edward E. Schilling, "Phylogeny and biogeography of Eupatorium (Asteraceae: Eupatorieae) based on nuclear ITS sequence data", American Journal of Botany, volume 87, issue 5, p. 716-726, May 2000. (available on Wiley.com)