ASPHODEL. 85 



the Styx, the shades passed over a long plain of Aspho- 

 del*. Orpheus, in Pope's Ode on St. Cecilia's day, con- 

 jures the infernal deities — 



" By the streams that ever flow. 

 By the fragrant winds that blow 



O'er the Elysian flowers ; 

 By those happy souls who dwell 

 In yellow meads of asphodel. 



Or amaranthine bowers." 



Pope, according to a passage in Spence's Anecdotes, 

 where he speaks of it with a disrespect hardly becoming 

 a poet, seems to have thought it one of our commonest 

 field-flowers. 



ASTER. 



CORYMBIFERiE. SYNGENESIA POLYGAillA SUPERFLUA. 



Starwort, so named from its starry shape. — French, ast^re. — Italian, 

 astero. 



The varieties of the Aster are infinite ; and being very 

 showy, of almost every colour, and the colours remarkably 

 vivid, they make a brilhant figure in our gardens in the 

 autumn. The most general favourite is the Chinese, or 

 China Aster, which has larger and handsomer flowers 

 than any of the others. There are many varieties of this 

 species ; white, blue, purple, and red ; single and double 

 of each ; and another variety, variegated with blue and 

 white. 



The French call the China Aster la Heine Marguerite, 

 which has been rendered, in English, the Queen Mar- 



* See St. Pierre's Harmonies de la Nature. 



d2 



