ASTER. 
people in the Old World it may be sufficient to retain Aster and 
Erigeron, uncomplicated by Wyomingia and Ionactis; at the same 
time it should be remembered that such strange new names, if offered 
in catalogues, may very likely here be found described under their 
older and more familiar styles. It is possible enough, with hard 
labour, to get at the original specific name of a plant ; but the generic 
can always be subsequently altered at any time by any botanist, 
according to some scheme of rearrangement that he may want to 
make. Therefore, though there is finality in the one case, and 
correctness may be both sought, found, and insisted on, in the other 
one has nothing to go on but the shifting bog of critical re-disposi- 
tions, which, in such subtly differentiated families as Aster and many 
another, offers us a footing so insecure and impermanent that no 
generic name can be regarded as finally established. 
A. peregrinus, with A. foliaceus and A. salsuginosus, grows erect, 
sometimes branching, with one to three flower-heads. The leaves 
are oblong and smooth, the stem only villous-downy above. 
A. pulchellus is another case in point. American authorities now 
call it Oreastrum alpigenum. None the less it may be gratefully 
remembered and asked for as Aster pulchellus—for so indeed it is, a 
charming tuft of narrow tongue-shaped leaves from the high 
mountains of Wyoming, with radiating scapes of some 3 to 6 inches, 
each carrying one large purple flower about an inch and a half 
across. 
A. proximus is a twin to A. laetevirens, but here the leaves are 
dark green, and without any toothing at the edge. 
A. pseudo-amellus repeats the beauty of A. Amellus, but here the 
bracts that enclose the cup are specially large and leafy. (Alps of 
Kumaon, 800 to 900 feet.) 
A. Purdomii is a very lovely novelty from damp rich soil, high 
on the mountains of Shensi, in the kinship of A. alpinus, and a 
dangerous rival. (Purdom, 1910.) 
A. Richardsonii, from the Altai and moist places in North America, 
is, like A. Amellus, not more than a foot high, downy-woolly above 
and hairy below, with branching stems, each carrying a large purple 
flower an inch and a half across. 
A. roseus (Calimeris) is a generous dwarf tuft, with very many 
stems from a woody base, and abundant showers of fine pink 
blossoms. (Eastern Caucasus.) 
A. scapigerus, also from Siberian Altai, is an ennobled cousin of 
A. alpinus. Here there are no leaves at all on the stems, but they are 
" gathered into a basal tuft, oblong, hispid, and without any toothing at 
126 
