Aster cordifolius? Common Blue Wood Aster.

To me, looks like White Wood Aster, Aster divaricatus, renamed Eurybia divaricata. They are found in woodlands in most of the N GA mountainous areas.
RB

I'm not sure that the leaves on this match some of the photos I found online for Eurybia divaricata. For example,
this photo seems to have much wider leaves.

The photo looks as if there a light blue cast to the petals.Its hard to tell in the pictures. I took photos of aster cordifolius once and the petals appeared white when they really were light blue.Aster cordifolius blooms later than A. divaricatus.There are many similar aster like species with differing races and really not enough information in the photo to accurately distinguish this one from the others.

thanks for the help. Is it safe to say that the flower is some sort of aster though? In the future, do I mostly need better pictures of the leaves too or are there other pictures I should be sure to take to help get an accurate id? Lately I've been trying to identify more of the plants I see in the woods.

-Dan

How about Boltonia asteroides?

Here is a link that might be useful: Boltonia asteroides

There are so many different kinds of aster's that I gave up trying to distinguish them apart a few years ago...

Aster species, yup thats one...

Of course, we have the decurrent false aster that grows in my region and I have seen it and said - yup - its an aster.

There are a lot of asters with little white flowers (or little pale blue-purple flowers), and they are notoriously difficult to tell apart. Your picture is nice and clear, but a single picture is unlikely to capture everything needed for identification of this difficult group.

Having said that... Your plant is not Aster divaricatus or cordifolius, because on both of those species, upper stem leaves are small but fairly broad, unlike the little needle-like leaves in the photograph. It looks to me like Aster dumosus (because of the hint of purple in the flowers, and because of those little needle-like leaves) or maybe Aster pilosus (because of the urn-shaped flowerheads). But my experience with asters is in the northeast, and I'm sure Georgia has other species I'm not familiar with.

I do think you are safe calling it an aster. Even if it's Boltonia, I think "aster" is an acceptable common name.

"Asters", Symphyotrichum dumosum and pilosum, as well as S. cordifolium, S. concolor, S. puniceum, S. undulatum and Eurybia divaricata have been documented in Bartow Co. There may be others, as some specie's records are incomplete. Also, other species are found in adjacent counties and undocumented migration may have occurred. It is often difficult to precisely identify a species, when the flower is the only key available. Sometimes, even the Latin diagnosis, when describing a Herbarium specimen (which is pressed), doesn't help.
I agree that it's a member of the Asteraceae Family and if you like them, call them Asters(as I do) and enjoy the showy flowers! I have only one species, Symphyotrichum georgianum, and it's a handful, to keep under control.
Rb

It's definitely not Boltonia Asteroides.