AST 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



AST 



139 



7. Assonia Punctata. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, long, quite 

 entire, tomentose underneath, rugged with dots on the up- 

 per surface. Native of the Isle of Bourbon. 



8. Assonia Decanthera. Leaves ovate-acuminate, repand- 

 crenate, smooth ; stamina five, two-anthered ; flowers small, 

 umbelled, scarcely three lines in diameter ; stem arborescent 

 with a brown furrowed bark ; germen five-cornered, one seed 

 in each cell of the fruit. Native of Madagascar. 



9. Assonia Umbellata. Leaves cordate, ovate-oblong, 

 acuminate,repand,smooth ; flowers umbelled, globular. Na- 

 tive of the Isleof Bourbon, where ropes are made of the bark. 



10. Assonia Ovata. Leaves ovate, toothed, five-nerved, 

 tomentose ; "style very small. Native of the Isle of Bourbon. 



11. Assonia Ferruginea. Leaves ovate-oblong, seven- 

 nerved, ferruginous beneath ; petioles, peduncles, and cali- 

 ces, tomentose ; stem arborescent, from eight to ten feet 

 high; the branches, especially the younger ones, clothed 

 with a rufous nap ; fruit tomentose, roundish, five-cornered. 

 Native of the Isle of Mauritius. 



Aster; a genus of the class Syngenesia, order Polygamia 

 Superflua. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : common im- 

 bricate, the inner scales prominent a little at the end, the 

 lower ones spreading. Corolla .- compound, radiate ; corol- 

 lules hermaphrodite, numerous in the disk ; females ligulate, 

 more than ten in the ray. Proper of the hermaphrodite, fun- 

 nel-shaped, with a five-cleft spreading border ; of the female 

 ligulate, lanceolate, three-toothed, at length rolling back. 

 Stamina : hermaphrodite ; filamenta five, capillary ,very short ; 

 antherse cylindric, tubulous. Pistil: hermaphrodite ; germen 

 oblong; style filiform, the length of the stamina; stigmabifid, 

 spreading : females germen and style the same ; stigmas 

 two, oblong, revolute. Pericarp: none. Calix: scarcely 

 changed. Seeds: solitary, oblong, ovate; down capillary. 

 Receptacle; naked, flattish. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Re- 

 ceptacle : naked. Down : simple. Corolla : rays more than 

 ten. Calix: imbricate, lower scales spreading. In the nu- 

 merous species of this genus, the far greater part are hardy, 

 herbaceous, fibrous- rooted, autumnal, flowering, showy, pe- 

 rennials, with annual stems, from one to five feet in stature. 

 America has furnished a considerable number of them; and 

 they are particularly adapted to adorn large borders and 

 plantations of shrubs, in the latter season. Only two are 

 annuals ; five natives of Europe ; and the first four species 



from the Cape, are shrubby plants of the green-house. 



The species are, 



*Shrubby. 



1. Aster Taxifolius ; Yew-leaved Starwort. Undeishrubby: 

 leaves decurrent, subulate, channelled, ciliate ; flowers ter- 

 minal. Native of the Cape of Good Hope. It produces no 

 seeds in England, but may be propagated by cuttings any 

 time during the summer. These should be planted in small 

 pots filled with light earth, and plunged into an old hot-bed ; 

 where if they be shaded from the sun, and gently watered, 

 they will put out roots in six weeks, when they may be placed 

 in the open air, and in about a month after they should be 

 separated, each into a small pot filled with light sandy earth. 

 In October they must be removed into the green-house, and 

 placed where they may enjoy as much free air as possible : 

 but be secured from frost or damps, either of which will 

 destroy them ; so that they are much easier preserved in a 

 glass-case, where they will enjoy more light and air than in 

 a green-house ; but they must not be placed in a stove, for 

 artificial heat will soon destroy them. 



2. Aster Reflexus ; Reflected- leaved Starwort. Shrubby : 

 leaves ovate, subimbricate, recurved, serrate-ciliate ; flowers 

 terminal ; ray blood-red. For the propagation and culture 



of this plant, see the preceding species. Native of the Cape 

 of Good Hope. 



3. Aster Crinitus. Somewhat shrubby : leaves ovate- 

 oblong, acute, tomentose underneath ; calices terminated 

 with a hair ; peduncles terminal, leafy, one-flowered ; ray 

 of the flower blue. For the propagation and culture of this 

 plant, see the first species. Native of the Cape. 



4. Aster Fruticosus ; Shrubby Starwort. Shrubby : leaves 

 linear, dotted; peduncles one-flowered, naked; flowers so- 

 litary, upon long slender peduncles, of a pale blue colour. 

 For the propagation and culture of this plant, see the first 

 species. Native of the Cape. 



** Herbaceous, entire-leaved Peduncles naked. 



5. Aster Tenellus ; Bristly-leaved Starwort. Leaves fili- 

 form, prickle-ciliate ; calices hemispheric, with equal leaf- 

 lets ; disk of the corolla yellow ; ray blue, often, and espe- 

 cially in the night, rolled back. Native of the Cape of 

 Good Hope. For the propagation and culture of this plant, 

 see the first species of this genus. 



6. Aster Alpinus ; Alpine or Great Blue Mountain Starwort. 

 Leaves subspatulate, rough with hairs, quite entire; stems 

 simple, one-flowered ; calix equal ; stem-leaves two, sel- 

 dom three ; sometimes the ray of the flower is white. It 

 seldom rises above nine inches high on the Alps, and, when 

 transplanted into a garden, not above sixteen, with a large 

 blue flower at the top of each stalk. It flowers in June, 

 and grows wild on the Alps and Pyrenees. There are two 

 varieties of this species ; one also a native of the Alps, the 

 other of Austria. )( 



. 7- Aster Sibiricus; Siberian Starwort. Leaves lanceolate, 

 almost stem-clasping, serrate, hairy, scabrous ; calices laxj 

 leaflets lanceolate, acuminate, leafy, hispid ; peduncles one- 

 flowered ; ray of .the corolla blue. It flowers in August, 

 and is a native of Siberia, 



8. Aster Tripolium ; Sea Starwort. Leaves linear-lanceo- 

 late, quite entire, fleshy, smooth, three-nerved ; calicine 

 leaflets submembranaceous, obtuse ; root perennial. It is 

 found in the Isle of Wight; flowers sometimes occur without 

 any ray, and sometimes the ray is white. It is a native of 

 salt marshes on the sea-coast of Europe, and by inland salt 

 lakes in Germany and Siberia. It is frequent about Bristol, and 

 not only on the coast, but in the interiorparts of the kingdom, 

 where Dr. Hokes, with good reason, supposes that its pre- 

 sence indicates the existence of salt-springs. It flowers in 

 July and August. Morison observes, that in the morning the 

 flowers being expanded, appear blue ; the blue florets quickly 

 vanishing, and the disk remaining, they then appear yellow; 

 in the evening, these go off, and the white down of the seeds 

 shows itself : it thus undergoes a triple change in the course 

 of the day, and hence derives its name of Tripolium. 



9. Aster Amellus ; Italian Starwort. Leaves oblong-lan- 

 ceolate, entire, scabrous; branches corymbed; calices imbri- 

 cate subsquarrose ; leaflets obtuse, the inner membranaceous, 

 coloured at the end. The stems grow in large clusters from 

 the root, and each of them branch at the top into eight or 

 ten peduncles.each terminated by a single large flower,having 

 blue rays with a yellow disk. It flowers in August or Sep- 

 tember, and in mild seasons will often continue till the mid- 

 dle of November. It grows naturally in the valleys of Italy, 

 Sicily and Narbonne; also in Austria, Carniola, Germany, 

 and Switzerland, and is very common about Bienne. The 

 leaves and stalks being rough and bitter, the cattle seldom 

 browse upon them, so that they remain in the pastures after 

 the grass is eaten bare, and make a fine appearance when 

 full of flowers. This species is propagated by parting the 

 roots, soon after the plant is out of flower; for those which are 



