138 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



names of such well-known fellow-composite flowers as the 

 <laisy or the chamomile were shared by the sea-aster or 

 starwort. 



" Our ordinary sea-starrewort hath many long and some- 

 what broad leaves rising from the roote next the ground, 

 smooth, fat, and thicke, and of a blewish-greene colour, from 

 among which riseth up a smooth herby or fleshy-greeue 

 stalke. branched towards the toppes into divers smaller 

 branches, with such-like leaves upon them as grow below, 

 but lesser. The flowers that stand at the toppes of them 

 are somewhat large, having a bluish purple border of leaves 

 standing about a yellow middle thrum, which, after it hath 

 done flowering, turneth into downe, and the small seede 

 therewithe is blown away at the will of the winde ; the 

 roote hath divers greater strings and many smaller fibres 

 thereat which grow deepe and sticke fast in the middle of 

 the marshie ditches where it groweth." The foregoing, 

 despite its antique phraseology, is as graphic a description 

 of the plant as one need wish for. 



The starwort, as we have already indicated, is a denizen 

 of the low-lying lands by the sea that come beneath the 

 saline influences and occasional overflowings of the tide 

 " you shall hardly misse it in any salt marsh in some place 

 or other if you looke well for it ; " it attains to a height 

 of about a foot under favourable conditions, and should be 

 sought for during the later months of summer, and part of 

 the autumn. Hence it will be seen that not only does its 

 appearance justify the name of Michaelmas daisy but also 

 the late date of its flowering-season. 



The specific name Tripolium is the old Greek name 

 for the plant. Dioscorides says that this name was 

 given because the flowers change colour thrice a day 



