BLUE AND PURPLE 



blue (i.e., with purple or blue ray-flowers), and as even botan- 

 ists find that it requires patient application to distinguish these 

 many species, only a brief description of the more conspicuous 

 and common ones is here attempted. 



Along the dry roadsides in early August we may look for the 

 bright blue-purple flowers of A. patens. This is a low-growing 

 species, with rough, narrowly oblong, clasping leaves, and widely 

 spreading branches, whose slender branchlets are usually termi- 

 nated by a solitary flower-head. 



Probably no member of the group is more striking than the 

 New England aster, A. Novcz Anglice, whose stout hairy stem 

 (sometimes eight feet high), numerous lance-shaped leaves, and 

 large violet-purple or sometimes pinkish flower-heads, are con- 

 spicuous in the swamps of late summer. 



A. puniceus is another tall swamp-species, with long showy 

 pale lavender ray-flowers. 



One of the most commonly encountered asters is A. cordifo- 

 lius, which is far from being the only heart-leaved species, de- 

 spite its title. Its many small, pale blue or almost white flower- 

 heads mass themselves abundantly along the wood-borders and 

 shaded roadsides. 



Perhaps the loveliest of all the tribe is the seaside purple 

 aster, A. spectabilis, a low plant with narrowly oblong leaves 

 and large bright heads, the violet-purple ray-flowers of which 

 are nearly an inch long. This grows in sandy soil near the 

 coast and may be found putting forth its royal, daisy-like blos- 

 soms into November. 



Great Britain can claim but one native aster, A. Tripolium, 

 or sea-starwort as it is called. Many American species are cul- 

 tivated in English gardens under the general title of Michaelmas 

 daisies. The star wort of Italy is A. amellus. The Swiss spe- 

 cies is A. Alpinum. 



This beautiful genus, like that of the golden-rod, is one of 

 the peculiar glories of our country. Every autumn these two 

 kinds of flowers clothe our roadsides and meadows with so regal 

 a mantle of purple and gold that we cannot but wonder if the 

 flowers of any other region combine in such a radiant display. 



268 



