COMPOSITE FAMILY 



an individual and appropriate name, but it is 

 a species of folk-lore name of which we have 

 too few examples, willingly to lose any that 

 seem to the manner born. Tradescant, of 

 course, commemorates a botanist of fame, and 

 is not unworthily placed. 



This is the common White Aster of autumn 

 days; one finds it everywhere; with the whole 

 countryside to play in it still crowds along the 

 roadways, runs through the vineyard aisles, is 

 found in every tangle, wet or dry. The plant 

 makes ready for bloom in late August, and in 

 early September launches a few tiny flower- 

 heads here and there, but by October appar- 

 ently it is everywhere — a veritable flowering of 

 the ditches, a descent of the stars. By this 

 time the upper half of the plant is a mass of 

 white Aster-heads, varying in size from a ten- 

 cent piece to a silver quarter. 



The stems are leafy with leaves both small 

 and great, which bear considerable cold before 

 they fall. It is interesting that the flowers of 

 Asters last longer and withstand more vicissi- 



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