228 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. 



and the rays are purple with quite a curvature ; the 

 leaf has an elongated heart-shape and grows close 



to the stem. The flower 

 grows singly on a very thin 

 stem which bears a few 

 little leaflets. The main 

 stem, which is about two 

 i^. feet high, is covered below 

 with very minute short 

 hairs. 



A. Nov(B AnglioB, the 

 New England aster, is com- 

 mon everywhere, and grows 

 taller than the preceding 

 variety ; perhaps its stem 

 reaches an average height 

 of five feet. The flower 

 is a trifle smaller than that 

 A. Nova. Angii*. ^^ ^- Patens, but it bears 



many more pur})le rays ; 

 sometimes these are magenta-purple. A large flower 

 cluster terminates the coarse, hairy stem which is 

 covered to the very end with lance-shaped, dark- 

 green leaves. This variety frequents wet meadows, 

 and blooms about the middle or the end of August. 



A. cord if alius is a small-flowered variety, whose 

 blue-lavender rays and variable (sometimes reddish, 



