THE ASTERS 



Aster, a star. 



The amateur may divide our common road- 

 side Asters into three groups, and so easily be- 

 come acquainted with a number sufficiently 

 large to give a good beginning. Should one go 

 farther, he studies books and herbariums, and 

 goes far afield. 



In the first group may be placed those of 

 largest size; the one best known because it has 

 been largely introduced into gardens and land- 

 scape planting, is the New England Aster, A . Ndvce 

 AnglicB, a beautiful species, its size about that of 

 a silver half-dollar, sometimes larger, and in color 

 varying from violet-purple to deep rose, pink, and 

 sometimes white. A second species almost as 

 abundant, and readily recognized, is the Red- 

 Stemmed Aster, A. puniceus, a lover of moist 

 places, a dweller in ditches by the roadway. The 

 third is the Seaside Aster, A. spectdbilis, its flow- 

 er-head also the size of a half-dollar, pale lavender 



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