Brewer's Golden Aster (Aster brewerii) grows commonly and sometimes thickly in mixed conifer zone among the firs and pines. It's large purplish leaves, commonly visible among the pine needles on the forest floor, pop out early in the spring. A month or more later, the yellow flowers emerge. Thick fields of it grow near White Wolf, for example. Its bright, tight, vertical disk flowers on this tall plant can give a nice splash of color to the forest.

Though very common, I've had trouble getting a decent photo of the whole plant as it often finds itself in sunny spots in a shady forest.... working on it.