Addisonia 3 



(Plate 82) 



ASTER NOVAE-ANGLIAE 

 New England Aster 



Native of the eastern and middle United States and Canada 

 Family Carduac^ar Thisti,^ Family 



Aster Novae-Angliae L. Sp. PL 875. 1753. 



A stout, tall, large representative of the genus, sometimes growing 

 to a height of six or eight feet. The stiff robust stems are rough- 

 hispid, more or less corymbosely branched above and conspicuously 

 leafy throughout. The rough-pubescent leaves are entire-margined» 

 up to five inches long and an inch wide, lanceolate-cordate in shape, 

 and clasp the stem and branches with their cordate or auriculate 

 bases. The flower-heads are clustered at the ends of the branches. 

 The involucre is green, pubescent, and more or less glandular and 

 viscid. The rays, forty to fifty in each flower-head, are a half to 

 nearly three quarters of an inch long, normally pmple or violet- 

 colored, rarely pink, red, or white. 



This is one of the connnonest of the two hundred and fifty or more 

 recognized species of the genus Aster, of which about one hundred 

 and fifty are native to North America. Its range may be roughly 

 designated as within the region lying south from Quebec and Sas- 

 katchewan, east from Colorado, and north from Alabama and South 

 Carolina. It grows in both dry and wet locations, and is usually a 

 conspicuous floral featine of late summer and early autumn, especially 

 along roadsides, fences, and borders of woods. For interior decor- 

 ative purposes it is disappointing, as, unlike most of the blue and 

 purple asters, it is sensitive to handling and wilts very quickly. 

 Except for the red and white color-forms, the species does not vary 

 from the normal type, and there is no difficulty in recognizing it, and 

 no possibility of confusing it with any other. 



Arthur Hoi,uck. 



Explanation of Pirate. Fig. 1.— Flowering stem. Fig. 2.— Involucre, X 2. 



