ASTER. 43 



" By the streams that ever flow, 

 By the fragrant winds that blow 



O'er the Elysian flowers ; 

 By those happy souls who dwell 

 In yellow meads of asphodel. 



Or amaranthine bowers." 



Pope, according to a passage in Spence's Anecdotes, 

 where he speaks of it with a disrespect hardly becoming 

 a poet, seems to have thought it one of our commonest 

 field-flowers. 



Dr. Hunt, speaking of Lemnos, says, 



66 The pastures were profusely covered with anemonies 

 of the most vivid and various hues ; and the sides of the 

 hills were white with the large towering Asphodel, which 

 the islanders look upon as an omen of a fruitful year *." 



ASTER. 



CORYMBIFERE. SYNGENESIA POLYGAMIA SUFERFLUA. 



Starwort, so named from its starry shape. French, astere. Italian, 

 astero. 



THE varieties of the Aster are infinite ; and being very 

 showy, of almost every colour, and the colours remarkably 

 vivid, they make a brilliant figure in our gardens in the 

 autumn. The most general favourite is the Chinese, or 

 China Aster, which has larger and handsomer flowers 

 than any of the others. There are many varieties of this 

 species ; white, blue, purple, and red ; single and double 

 of each; and another variety, variegated with blue and 

 white. 



The French call the China Aster la Heine Marguerite, 

 which has been rendered, in English, the Queen Mar- 

 garet : may they not rather mean to call it the Queen 



* Dr. Hunt's Journal, Walpole's Travels in the East. 



