BLUE AND PURPLE GROUP 



autumnal color. Other species arc found in the prairies 



west and south of New York. (See illustration, p. 356.) 



Blazing Star. Button Snakeroot 



Liatris spickta — Family, Composite. Color, rose purple. 



ollas, tubular, no rays. Heads of floicers, large, crowded «»n the 

 upper part of the very leafy stems. Leaves, linear, rigid, upright, 

 the lower 3 to 5-nerved. August to October. 



A rough, bristling plant, 2 to 5 feet high, found along road- 

 sides, in moist ground, from Massachusetts to Minnesota and 

 southward. Very handsome, regular flowers of striking 

 color. (See illustration, p. 358.) 



Large Button Snakeroot 



L. scaribsa — Color, purple. This differs from the last but little, 

 being of a variable type. Leaves, stiff, narrow, the lowest slight- 

 ly broader, petioled, the upper growing smaller until braet-like. 

 Flowers, in round heads, under which the bristling scales of the 

 involucre are very prominent, their tips sometimes purplish. 2 

 to 5 feet high, with same range as the preceding. Late summer. 



Dry, sandy soil, Maine to Nebraska and southward. 

 Purple and Blue Asters 



These can be distinguished from each other mainly by 

 their leaves, stems, and places of growth. They appear in 

 late summer and bloom into September or October. 



Showy Aster 



Aster sped abilis Family, Composite. Color, bright purple. 



Disk, small, bright yellow. Leaves, the lower, serrate, broad in 

 the middle, pointed; the upper, oblong to lance - shape, generally 

 entire; all tapering into margined petioles. Bracts of the involucre 

 tipped with purple, recurved, glandular, sticky. Flowers, few or 

 single, on the upper branches. Stem, thick and rough. August 

 to October. 



Near the coast, sandy soil, Massachusetts to Delaware and 

 North Carolina. 



Low, Rough Aster 



A. radula. — Color, pale violet. Leaves, rough above, smooth 



beneath, oblong to lance-shape, sessile, acute, serrate, distinctly 

 pinnately veined, 2 to 3 inches long. Stem, simple or branched 



near the summit, very leafy, with flowers in corymbs, generally 



3 57 



