Wild Flowers East of the Rockies 359 



Aster umbel latus is a common species of white as- 

 ter found growing in moist woodland or thickets. It 

 has smooth, leafy, branching stems from 2 to 6 feet 

 tall. The leaves are lanceolate, pointed at each end 

 and the lower ones are serrate. 



The numerous flower heads are in compound flat- 

 topped corymbs; the center, or disc florets, are green- 

 ish-yellow and are surrounded by a few white rays, 

 usually less than a dozen. It is a common species 

 throughout the northern parts of the United States. 



SHARP-LEAVED WOOD ASTER (Aster acumina- 

 tus) is a low-growing woodland aster with a simple, 

 rather zig zag stem, quite hairy, growing from 1 to 3 

 feet in height. The leaves are quite large, sharply- 

 pointed, sharply toothed and short-stemmed. A few 

 alternate along the lower portions of the stem and a 

 number are so closely together as to appear whorled 

 about the stem, just below the flowers. The flowers 

 are few in number, on slender pedicels. They have 

 few white rays and a rather brownish center, giving 

 them a very unkempt appearance as compared to the 

 tidiness of most of the asters; the rays are long, 

 narrow, often wavy and give the flower a spread of 

 from 1 to iy 2 inches. It is quite a common species 

 in cool rich woods from Labrador to Ontario and 

 south to Pa. and even farther in the mountains. It 

 blooms during August and September. 



Aster linariifolius is a peculiar, but not uncommon, 

 aster found in dry soil in the northern parts of the 

 United States. The stem is usually simple, with 

 rough-margined, linear leaves and bears a single 

 blossoms at the summit; the few rays are light vio- 

 let or white and surround a brownish disk of tubular 

 florets. 



