NOVEMBER. 537 



appear the yellow gerardias, bringing along with them count- 

 less multitudes of asters, golden rods, and autumnal dande- 

 lions, until the uplands are profusely spangled with their 

 varieties, and the lowlands gleam with the golden splendor 

 of the coreopsis. 



The asters are the most remarkable of the flowers of 

 autumn, and are characteristic in many respects of those of 

 the season. Their stalks are woody — but they are not 

 shrubs, and their flowers are more delicate than brilliant. 

 The foreign asters which are cultivated in our gardens, 

 though exceeding the native species in the brilliancy of their 

 hues, are inferior to the latter in elegance of growth, and in 

 the delicate structure of their blossoms. The prevailing 

 color of the autumnal flowers is yellow : yet there is not a 

 single yellow aster among their whole extensive tribe. Near 

 the latter part of September, the fields are covered with 

 asters of every shade, from the deep blue of the cyancus and 

 the purple of the New England aster, to the purest white. 

 The walls and the borders of the woods are bordered with 

 long rows of golden rods, and multitudes of gaudy flowers 

 have usurped the dominions of the roses, hiding the summer 

 .shrubbery beneath their tall and spreading herbage. 



In the latter part of autumn some of the flowers bear a 

 resemblance to those of spring. Such are the neoUia which 

 continues in flower until November, and the purple gerardia, 

 which bears no resemblance to the other flowers of autumn. 

 Almost simultaneously with the tinting of the forest trees 

 comes forth the last beautiful visitant of our fields, the blue 

 fringed gentian. This little flower marks the decline of 

 autumnal vegetation. It begins to unfold itself during the 

 latter part of September, and may often be found in the 

 meadows after the November frosts have seized the verdure 

 of the fields, and changed the variegated hues of the forest 

 into one monotonous tinge of brown and purple. 



When the woods are completely divested of their foliage, 

 and the landscape wants nothing but snow to yield it the 

 aspect of winter, the Hainamelis, or witch hazel, still re- 

 tains its yellow blossoms, in defiance of the later frosts. 



VOL. XXI. NO. XI. 68 



