ALEXANDER I ASTERS 269 



the year's decay you will see another aster, flourishing, and daunt- 

 less. It is the New York Aster {Aster Novi-Belgii). Gray calls 

 it the "commonest late-flowered aster of the Atlantic border and 

 the most variable." In spite of this charge of its being "common" 

 and "variable" it is never-the-less an aster that we can think 

 much of. The ray flowers are singularly beautiful and are usually 

 of a tender violet, the color ranging through several shades in 

 different localities. There are about 20 rays, sometimes less and 

 often more ; the leaves are lance-shaped and inclined to be clasp- 

 ing, the slightly toothed margins are not noticeable unless the plant 

 is closely inspected. It is to be wished that every New Yorker 

 might learn to know this attractive wild flower that has been 

 popularly named for his home state. 



An exceedingly interesting late flowering aster is the one which 

 botanists have named Aster patens and is commonly spoken of as 

 the Late Purple Aster. Found on high dry ground the tall com- 

 manding plant immediatel}^ arrests attention by its peculiar habit 

 of flowering. The rich purple rays once they have planted their 

 prettiness in the mellow autimm sunshine curl inwardly, clasping 

 the disk flowers in a sort of tent-like covering, the effect is pleasing 

 when a flowerhead is seen where a ntimber of these closed blossoms 

 mingle with an array of fully opened, princely flowers. The stem 

 of this aster reaches a maximum height of three feet. The leaves 

 are rather lance-shaped, inclined to be cordiform at the base and 

 clasping. Aster patens is one that the writer feels should be better 

 known, the tendency being to rather neglect it. 



Bliss Carmen, singing of autumn, tells in a single verse the story 

 of wonderous change working in the world at this season, aided 

 by the hand of Flora: "From purple glory to scarlet pomp" 

 runs the verse and we find no difficulty in refering the "purple 

 glory" to the aureola of the New England Aster or if we have been 

 mistaken there to the simpler crown of Aster patens, both fit the 

 picture framed with the flame of red maples on the hill- top. 



There are 12 asters quite common that the writer feels should 

 be well known ; they deserve some study and a little closer acquaint- 

 ance than most of us have of them for it can not be denied that they 

 are incHned to be friendly; they beset our paths on every side 

 do we but venture forth beyond the limits of our town or city, 

 nay, they spring up in our back yards or in our garden, looking us 

 full in the face, craving as it were a little friendly attention, some 



