From Blue to Purple 



from the leaf axils along a slender stem in a wand-like raceme. 

 Stem: >< to 2 ft. high. Leaves: Alternate, narrow, entire. 



Preferred Habitat — Dry, rich soil. 



F/oioering Season — ^June — September. 



Distribution — Ontario to the Gulf of Mexico, v/estward to Ne- 

 braska. 



Beginning at the top, the apparently fringed flower-heads 

 open downward along the wand, whose length depends upon 

 the richness of the soil. All of the flowers are perfect and attract 

 long-tongued bees and tlies (especially Exoproiopa fasciata) and 

 butterflies, which, as thev sip from the corolla tube, receive the 

 pollen carried out and exposed on the long divisions of the style. 

 Some people have pretended to cure rattlesnake bites with appli- 

 cations of the globular tuber of this and the next species. 



The Large Button Snakeroot, Blue Blazing Star, or Gay Feather 

 {L. scariosa), may attain six feet, but usually not more than half 

 that height; and its round flower-heads normally stand well away 

 from the stout stem on foot-stems of their own. The bristling 

 scales of the involucre, often tinged with purple at the tips, are a 

 conspicuous feature. With inuch the same range and choice of 

 habitat as the last species, this Blazing Star is a later bloomer, 

 coming into flower in August, and helping the golden-rods and 

 asters brighten the landscape throughout the early autumn. The 

 name of gay feather, miscellaneously applied to several blazing 

 stars, is especially deserved by this showy beauty of the family. 



Unlike others of its class, the Dense Button Snakeroot, Devil's 

 Bit, Rough or Backache Root, Prairie Pine or Throatwort [L. 

 spicata). the commonest species we have, chooses moist soil, even 

 salt marshes near the coast, and low meadows throughout a range 

 nearly corresponding with that of the scaly blazing star. Resembling 

 its relatives in general manner of growth, we note that its oblong 

 involucre, rounded at the base, has blunt, not sharply pointed, bracts ; 

 that the flower-heads are densely set close to the wand for from 

 four to fifteen inches ; that the five to thirteen bright rose-purple 

 florets which compose each head occasionally come white ; that 

 its leaves are long and very narrow, and that October is not too 

 late to find the plant in bloom. 



Blue and Purple Asters or Starworts 



Thistle family 



Evolution teaches us that thistles, daisies, sunflowers, asters, 

 and all the triumphant horde of composites were once very dif- 

 ferent flowers from what we see to-day. Through ages of natural 



72 



