RED-STEMMED ASTER 



Flower-heads. — Man}', showy, lilac-blue, rarely white; 

 varying in size about that of a silver half-dollar. 

 Ray-florets thirty to fifty, long, narrow. Involucre 

 bell-shaped; bracts in two rows, linear, smooth, 

 green, spreading. Pappus white. 



. This Aster loiters by the ditches, lives in 

 swamps and looks out contentedly from any- 

 moist location. Its bloom begins sparingly, 

 showing a few flower-heads here and there in 

 August, but the full burst of its rare beauty is 

 later. The individual plant is very attractive 

 because the branches appear low down on the 

 stem, in time forming a leafy mass bearing flowers 

 from top to bottom. Sometimes it is mistaken 

 for New England Aster, but the points of differ- 

 ence are several. The color of Red-Stemmed 

 flower-heads is always a pale violet-blue, while 

 the New England blossoms run a chord of purple 

 to rose. The poise of the plants differs consid- 

 erably. 



A. puniceus sends out long branches all the 

 way up the central stem, and these bear flowers 

 on tiny branchlets, while New England normally 



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