Blue to Purple Flowers 297 



bracts of the green involucre are very conspicuous, espe- 

 cially the outer and lower series, which spread forth hori- 

 zontally and are almost like tiny leaves. This Aster usually 

 grows near water. 



Aster Engelmanni, or Engelmann's Aster, is a rather tall 

 robust plant, of coarse appearance, with clusters of purple 

 flowers, each one growing on its own individual axillary 

 stalk, or else in a terminal cyme. 



A common English name for Asters is Michaelmas 

 Daisies, because they bloom at the feast of Saint Michael, 

 according to 



" The calendar, 

 Faithful through a thousand years 

 Of the painted race of flowers, 

 Exact to days, exact to hours." 



Aster Lindlcyanus, or Lindley's Aster, has tall stout 

 stems branched above, thick glabrous leaves, the lower ones 

 cordate at the base, sharply serrate and acute, and the upper 

 ones ovate, nearly entire and sessile. The violet-blue flow- 

 ers are not numerous, and the ten to twenty rays are a 

 quarter to half an inch long. 



Aster Iccvis, or Smooth Aster, has thick, usually entire, 

 rough-margined leaves, the upper ones sessile and strongly 

 cordate-clasping, the basal and lower ones gradually nar- 

 rowed into winged petioles. The purple-blue flower heads 

 are numerous, the involucre being campanulate, its bracts 

 rigid acute appressed and imbricated in several series. The 

 rays number fifteen to thirty. 



Aster Richardsonii, or Richardson's Aster, is hairy and 

 much branched from the base. The leaves are oblong spatu- 

 late and serrate. The violet-purple flower heads are soli- 

 tary, terminating the branches, and the involucre is broadly 



