COMPOSITE 



COMPOSITE COMPOSITE FAMILY 



Aster novi-bdgii, L. 



Lilac or blue- violet New York Aster, 



Willow-leaved Blue Aster. 

 August-October 



Aster: for derivation see concolor. 

 Nori-belgii: Latin for New Belgium. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: moist ground. 



THE PLANT: erect, one foot to three feet high, profusely 

 but not closely branched; the stem hairless or with few, 

 short, soft hairs. 



THE LEAVES: alternate; lanceolate or linear-lanceolate; 

 two inches to six inches long; hairless on both surfaces or 

 very nearly so; acuminate at the apex; narrowed or more 

 or less clasping at the base, the lowest petioled, the upper 

 sessile; entire or slightly serrate. 



THE FLOWER HEADS: usually numerous in modified pan- 

 icles, on the average one inch wide; the involucre hemi- 

 spheric to bell-shaped; its bracts linear, generally acute, 

 green, somewhat spreading in three to five series, the outer 

 shorter; rays fifteen to twenty-five, about one half inch 

 long. 



THE FRUIT: achenes, pappus whitish. 



The most graceful and the most beautiful of our Asters. 

 Above the surrounding green of rose-bushes and brambles, 

 rise the slender branches, covered with tiny leaves, and 

 topped by the large, flat, flower heads, lilac in colour, with 

 bright yellow centres. The purplish stem and the lower 

 leaves, long and narrow, are usually hidden by the under- 

 growth. 



392 



