COMPOSITE FAMILY 



The brilliancy of Aster roadside color is con- 

 tributed largely by the New England species; 

 it is first, and there is no second. The white 

 drift of the roadside in mid-October is made by 

 the combined flowering of Farewell Summer and 

 White Heath Aster; the purple mist in swamps 

 and low wet lands is largely A. puniceus, the 

 Punic Aster. 



The bluish clouds that abide in the open 

 woods are mostly A. cordifolius, prenanthoides 

 and undulattis, all comrades, all fearless, all 

 beautiful. In the section of northern Ohio that I 

 know, neither^, patens nor A. Icevis is abundant. 

 A. muUiflorus is always a wonder that one stem 

 can accommodate so many flower-heads. 



All Asters are Radiate-Composites, the rays 

 sit like the points of a star around the central 

 disk. Upon this disk, in a well-opened head, we 

 can distinguish the young seed (akene), the pap- 

 pus, the tubular five-lobed corolla, the anther 

 tube and the stigmas. The ray-florets are pis- 

 tillate, and produce seeds. Bloom begins at the 

 top of thebranchlets; all secrete abundant nectar. 



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