COMPOSITE FAMILY 



COMPOSITE COMPOSITE FAMILY 



Aster multiflorus, Ait. 



White or lilac- white Dense-flowered Aster, 



Fall-flower, 



Late August to November Many-flowered Aster, 



While Reef Aster, 

 White Wreath Aster. 



Aster: for derivation see concolor. 

 Multiflorus: Latin denoting many-flowered. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: roadsides, waste places. 



THE PLANT: erect, one foot to three feet high, bushily 

 branched; the branches ascending or spreading; the stem 

 often brownish, pale or hoary, with minute somewhat 

 rough, short hairs. 



THE LEAVES : alternate ; those of the stem linear or linear- 

 oblong; one half inch to one and one half inches long; 

 those of the branches very small and crowded; all rigid; 

 rough on both surfaces; mostly obtuse at the apex; sessile 

 or slightly clasping at the base; entire, and hairy on the 

 margins. 



THE FLOWER HEADS: scarcely one half inch broad; densely 

 crowded; nearly stemless, having sometimes a tendency to 

 grow only on one side of the branches; involucre top- 

 shaped; its bracts leathery, short haired, in three or four 

 series, the short green tips obtuse or finished with an 

 abrupt tip. Rays ten to twenty, very short. 



THE FRUIT: achenes; pappus brownish white. 



This is the stocky Aster that one thinks of, particularly, 

 as growing in the streets of the town. The numerous 

 leaves are dark green and fine and a multitude of flowers 

 always adorn the plant with white clusters. 



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