COMPOSITE FAMILY 



COMPOSITAE 



NEW ENGLAND ASTER 



Aster novae-angliae L. 



Britton & Brown's "Illustrated Flora" describes 75 species 

 of Aster in northern United States and Canada, and records 

 exist of 57 that occur in Illinois. Ten of the most common are 



given here. 



This, one of the largest and most 

 beautiful of the wild Asters, is often 

 cultivated. Introduced into Europe 

 as a garden flower, it has escaped and 

 become established there in the wilds 

 of some places. It grows here in moist 

 grounds from Quebec to Saskatche- 

 wan and south to Alabama, Kansas 

 and Colorado. 



The stout hairy stem is 2-8 feet 

 high, branched near the top and very 

 leafy. The leaves are lanceolate, en- 

 tire, rather thin and hairy. They are 

 2-5 inches long, about i inch wide, 

 and the broad base clasps the stem. 

 The large heads are numerous, 

 1-2 inches broad and more or less 

 clustered at the ends of the branches. 

 They bloom from August to October. 

 The linear-awl-shaped bracts ol the 

 involucre are green, hairy, more or 

 less glandular and sticky, and loosely 

 spreading. There are 40-50 narrow rays which are violet-purple, 

 or rarely pink, red or white. The pappus is reddish white and 

 the akenes are hairy. 



The Sky-blue Aster, Aster azurens Lindl., is found on prairies and 

 along the borders of woods. The stem is slender but stiff and 1-4 feet 

 high. The leaves are thick, entire and rough on both sides. The lower 

 leaves are heart shaped, oblong or lanceolate, and have long, often 

 hairy petioles; the upper are narrow and sessile. The heads are 

 numerous and about one-half inch high. The smooth, linear-oblong 

 bracts of the top-§haped involucre overlap in several series with their 

 green tips appressed. There are 10-20 bright blue ray flowers, and the 

 pappus is yellowish. This aster is known from western New York to 

 Minnesota, south to Georgia, Missouri and Texas. 



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