432 



COMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY) 



FIG. 300. Smooth 

 Aster (Aster Icevis) . 

 Xi. 



Stem two to four feet high, rather stout, 

 smooth and polished or often glaucous, sim- 

 ple or branched at the top. Leaves light 

 green, rather thick in texture, one to four 

 inches long, smooth and shining or covered 

 with a bloom, entire or minutely toothed, 

 oblong and pointed, the upper ones sessile 

 and clasping the stem with auricled or heart- 

 shaped base, the lower ones tapering to 

 margined petioles w^hich are partly clasping. 

 Heads numerous, in slender open panicles, 

 each about an inch broad, the rays deep 

 violet-blue, sometimes purple; involucre 

 bell-shaped, its bracts imbricated in several 

 rows, smooth, acute, rigid, green-tipped. 

 Achenes smooth, with a tawny pappus. 

 (Fig. 300.) 



Means of control 



Enrich the ground and enable it to sup- 

 port plants of more worth. A cultivated 

 crop, heavily fertilized and well tilled, fol- 

 lowed by a clean seeding of clover or grass, 

 will drive out this and many other weeds. 



WHITE HEATH ASTER 

 Aster ericoides, L. 



Other English names: Steelweed, Frostweed, White Rosemary, 



Scrubbush. 



Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 

 Time of bloom : August to October. 

 Seed-time: September to December. 

 Range: Maine to Ontario and Wisconsin, southward to Virginia 



and Kentucky. 

 Habitat : Dry soil ; meadows, roadsides, and waste places. 



Meadows and pastures infested with this weed are in a bad 

 condition, for as green forage it is worthless, and the hard, woody 



