PLANTS GROWING IN WASTE SOIL. 325 



Aster patens, late purple aster, Plate CXXXIII, appears 

 along the roadsides in early August, and is one of the first 

 shadowy prophecies of the approaching autumn. It is a large, 

 beautiful species with solitary (lower-heads, a half inch to .two 

 inches in diameter, and borne at the end of rough, spreading 

 branches. It is readily known by its lanceolate, clasping upper 

 leaves and the heart-shaped ones of the lower stem. 



A. l&vis, smooth aster, Plate CXXXIII, is a similar species, 

 only its flower-heads are clustered together in a panicle. Its 

 colour is not such a deep purple as that of A. patens, and it 

 seldom reaches over two feet high. It lives by the roadsides 

 or in the open wood borders, and is one of the most lovely of 

 the family. 



A. cordifolius is the tiny pale blue aster with the saucy little 

 dark disk-flowers that peep through the fences along the road- 

 sides. Its flower-heads are numerous in a loose panicle ; and 

 its leaves, as its name indicates, are heart-shaped. The plant 

 is smooth in texture. 



A. ericoldes, white heath aster, is the familiar tiny white aster 

 that is so conspicuous along the roadsides. It grows about a 

 foot high, and bears innumerable flower-heads on its wiry 

 spreading branches. 



A. divaricatus, white wood aster, is also noticeable along the 

 roadside and by thin borders of open woods. It has but few, 

 six to nine, white rays in loosely clustered flower-heads. The 

 leaves are long, narrow, and grow upon zigzag stems. 



As the golden-rods, the asters are a peculiar feature of the 

 unrivalled tints of the American autumn. 



" There is a lesson in each flower, 

 A story in each stream and bower ; 

 In every herb on which you tread, 

 Are written words, which rightly read 

 Will lead you from earth's fragrant soil, 

 To hope and holiness and God." 



ALLEN CUNNINGHAM. 



