3 2 4 



Derbaceous flMants. 



FIG. -142. ALPINE ASTER (ASTER ALPINUSL 



ing prematurely. As a rule China-asters do best in high alti- 

 tudes, or io countries where the summer is cool and pleasant. 

 Aster, Aster. — These, like the goldenrods, are common 

 hillside- and field-plants, flowering late in the season ; they 



are as yet too common to be culti- 

 vated, and the glorious panorama 

 3y spread out before us could 

 not be excelled in the gar- 

 den. It is to be hoped it 

 will always be so. There 

 are however many exotic kinds of great beauty that may 

 be grown together with the most attractive of the native 

 species. Some are dwarf and entirely different from any 

 American species. The best are : A. alpinus, leaves lan- 

 ceolate-spathulate forming tufts close to the ground ; flower- 

 ing stems, single, a few inches high, bearing a single large 

 head with purple ray -florets and yellow disk. 

 A pretty plant for rockeries. A. Amelias, 

 leaves broadly lanceolate, stems two feet high, 

 simple at the base, branched above and bearing 

 large solitary heads of purple flowers. A very 

 floriferous and showy kind, fine for borders. 

 A. Bessarabicus, a larger and showier variety 

 of the last.— The following are exceedingly 

 fine American species: A. qramdiflorus, 

 height two feet, leaves small linear, rigid stem branching at 

 the top, bearing numerous large purple heads. A. NovCB- 

 A not 'ice, most common species, leaves linear-lanceolate, 

 heads large, purple, height six feet. A. Nbv<B-£elgim, 

 leaves lanceolate, stem clasping or nearly so ; stem branch- 



FIG.— 143. TURBI- 

 NATE ASTER (ASTER 

 TURBINELLUS). 



