It is a perennial, herbaceous plant that is endemic to broken limestone cedar glades and roadsides in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

It blooms from August through October, reaches heights between 30 centimeters (1 foot) and 100 cm (3.3 ft), and has green to reddish-brown stems.

As of October 2022[update], what was originally described as Aster priceae was accepted to be the hybrid between S. kentuckiense and Symphyotrichum pilosum var.

NatureServe considers S. kentuckiense[a] Apparently Secure (G4) globally and Imperiled (S2) in Kentucky where the holotype was collected near Bowling Green in October 1898 by botanist Sadie F. Price.

Symphyotrichum kentuckiense is a rare[4] perennial, herbaceous plant[5] endemic[4] to areas of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee in the southeastern United States.

[6] It flowers from August through October, growing to heights between 30 centimeters (1 foot) and 100 cm (3.3 ft) from a cespitose rootstock.

Depending upon the locations of the leaves on the plant, the apices, or tips, can be noticeably pointed (acute[c] to acuminate[d]), obtuse,[e] mucronate,[f] or cuspidate.

[5] Symphyotrichum kentuckiense is a late-summer and fall blooming perennial,[5] with flower heads that are about 25 mm (1 in) wide[8] and have blue,[9] blue-violet,[5] pink, or purple ray florets[8] opening August through October.

The flower heads grow in leafy paniculiform to racemiform arrays on inflorescences that are straight and ascending or can have wide angles between the branches.

The phyllaries have green chlorophyllous zones that are diamond-shaped to lanceolate[n] with apices that are acute[c] to long-acuminate,[d] mucronate[f] to apiculate,[r] such that they could be tapering to a slender point.

[12] After pollination, they become tan to brown with an obovoid[i] shape, 1.5 to 2.1 mm (0.06 to 0.08 in) in length with 4 to 5 thin nerves, and with a few stiff, slender bristles on their surfaces (strigillose).

[6] S. ciliatum S. frondosum S. laurentianum S. chilense S. eatonii S. foliaceum S. greatae S. hallii S. hendersonii S. jessicae S. lentum S. molle S. spathulatum S. subspicatum S. turbinellum S. boreale S. bullatum S. burgessii S. carnerosanum S. dumosum S. eulae S. lanceolatum S. lateriflorum S. leone S. nahanniense S. ontarionis S. praealtum S. racemosum S. schaffneri S. simmondsii S. tradescantii S. welshii S. laeve S. oolentangiense S. anomalum S. ciliolatum S. cordifolium S. drummondii S. shortii S. undulatum S. urophyllum S. depauperatum S. kentuckiense S. parviceps S. pilosum S. porteri S. elliottii S. firmum S. prenanthoides S. puniceum S. rhiannon S. anticostense S. novi-belgii S. retroflexum S. robynsianum The basionym of Symphyotrichum kentuckiense is Aster kentuckiensis.

[14] The sample that was used by Britton as the holotype for A. kentuckiensis was collected in October 1898 by Sadie F. Price near Bowling Green, Kentucky.

In a 2021 journal article by botanist Max E. Medley, elements of the morphologies of A. kentuckiensis and A. priceae were confirmed to have been erroneously combined, and sometimes the former was ignored.

"[17] Subsequently, it was considered the non-hybrid species Symphyotrichum priceae (Britton) G.L.Nesom with S. kentuckiense and A. kentuckiensis as its taxonomic synonyms.

[5][9] Medley suggested that the Aster priceae holotype and Britton's protologue were of the hybrid A. kentuckiensis × A. pilosus var.

[13] Symphyotrichum kentuckiense is endemic[4] to a limited range in the southeastern United States, specifically parts of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

[21] Symphyotrichum kentuckiense[a] has coefficients of conservatism (C-values) in the Floristic Quality Assessment (FQA)[22][23] of 7 and 8 depending on evaluation region.

[19] The higher the C-value, the lower tolerance the species has for disturbance and the greater the likelihood that it is growing in a presettlement natural community.

[19] Both of these C-values mean that its populations are found in high-quality remnant natural areas with little environmental degradation but can tolerate some periodic disturbance.