It occurs in the eastern United States, primarily in the Appalachian Mountains, though it is also present in southeastern Canada, in the provinces of Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia.

The species is distinguished by its flower heads that have yellow centers and white rays that are arranged in flat-topped corymbiform arrays, emerging in the late summer through fall.

The white wood aster is sometimes used in cultivation in both North America and Europe due to it being quite tough and for its showy flowers.

Eurybia divaricata is a late summer to fall-flowering herbaceous perennial, typically growing to heights between 30 and 90 cm, though some specimens may be up to 1.2 m (3.9 ft) tall.

The plant emerges each year from rhizomes and forms dense colonies of clones that lack sterile rosettes.

The involucres, which are the whorls of small, scale-like modified leaves that appear at the base of the capitulum, are in between cylindric and campanulate (i.e. bell-shaped) in shape and measure 4.2 to 6 mm (0.17 to 0.24 in) long, making them much shorter than the pappi.

The outer phyllaries typically measure 0.7 to 1.5 mm (0.028 to 0.059 in) wide with the lengths rarely exceeding 2.5 times the width.

The disc florets number from 12 to 19 and up to 25 and have yellow corollas (i.e. petals, though they are fused into a tube) that are 4.1 to 4.8 and exceptionally 5.5 mm long.

[3] The fruit are cypselae, a type of achene, which are brown in colour, slightly compressed and are between cylindric and obovoid, or inversely egg-shaped.

They are between 2.6 and 3.8 mm (0.10 and 0.15 in) in length and sparsely strigillose, or set with stiff bristly hairs, with 7 to 10 ribs, which themselves are tan to stramineous (i.e. straw-coloured).

The pappi, which are modified sepals, are made up of reddish to cream-coloured bristles that are 3.7 to 5 mm (0.15 to 0.20 in) long, making them equal to or longer than the disc corollas in length.

The most similar species is the mountain wood aster (Eurybia chlorolepis), which was previously considered conspecfic with E. divaricata.

Both species sometimes have white rays in rare cases, but E. macrophylla can still be distinguished by its larger and broader leaves and S. cordifolium by its straighter and branched stems.

[5][6] Eurybia divaricata is present primarily in the Appalachian Mountains in eastern North America, with some populations in adjacent lowlands.

It is attractive to gardeners due to its showy white flowers that emerge in mid to late summer, its prostrate habit, as well as its hardiness and the minimal maintenance it requires.

It is commonly available in North American nurseries and several cultivars have been selected, including:[9] The young leaves of the plant can be cooked and eaten.