COMPOSITE FAMILY 



is a single leafy stalk that bears its flowers in a 

 bushy head at the top. 



Piiniceus means Punic, Carthaginian, royal 

 purple, just what it is not, provided anybody 

 knows what royal purple is, or was in ancient 

 times. The plant blooms very deliberately in 

 middle August, one bright, wide-open glad star 

 here and there, but when September comes it 

 is a dance of the fairies waving in the wind. 



SEASIDE ASTER. SHOWY ASTER 



Aster spectdbilis 



Native, perennial. A plant of the seashore 



growing in dry, sandy soil. Massachusetts to 



Delaware, mostly near the coast. 



Stem. — Stiff, simple or corymbosely branched, slightly 

 hairy or rough, one to two feet high. 



Leaves. — Basal and lower leaves oval, acute, three to 

 five inches long, sparingly dentate with low teeth, nar- 

 rowed at base into slender petioles; upper leaves ses- 

 sile, entire, acute, linear-oblong. 



Flower-heads. — Several or many, showy, violet; in 

 size about one and one-half inches across; rays fifteen 

 to thirty. Involucre hemispherical; bracts linear ob- 



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