328 FLOWERS OF FIELD, HILL, AND SWAMP 



bloom. About 5 large rays are borne on the flowers, whose 

 stems are roughly hairy. A common species. 



51 



7^ S. rtigbsa, i to 6 feet tall, has leafy, thick stems, with broad, 



veiny, rough leaves, oblong, ovate, or lance-shaped. Flowers 

 in one-sided, backward-curved panicles. 



A common, generally low-growing species, subject to great 

 variations. 



52. Elm-leaved Golden-rod 



S. ulmifolia has broad or oblong to lance-shaped, sharply- 

 serrate, thin, pointed leaves, softly hairy underneath. Flowers 

 in recurved, spreading panicles. Stem smooth, but branches 

 hairy, much like the last. 



53. Blue Aster 



Aster laevis. — Color, sky blue. Leaves, oblong, tapering, 

 firm, with rough margins. 



One of our most beautifully colored asters. Common in light 

 woods. Not more than 2 feet high, and heads of flowers closely 

 crowded at the ends of branches. 



54. Heart-leaved Aster 



A. cordifolius is pale blue in color, the disk sometimes 

 reddish or purplish. Leaves, with petioles, heart-shaped at 

 base. 



Flowers small and crowded in panicles. Common, and rather 

 an early bloomer. 



55. Wavy-leaved Aster 



A. undu/dtus is blue, with medium-sized flowers, and leaves 

 ovate or lance-shaped, with wavy margins and heart-shaped 

 bases. The upper ones have broad, winged petioles, clasping 

 around the stem. Blossoms panicled in the upper leaf-axils. 



An early August bloomer; common. 



