WILD FLOWERS BLUE AND PURPLE 
and Asters, during August and September. The hairy 
stem grows from one to six feet high, and usually in 
dry soil. The alternating deep green leaves vary in 
size and shape as they ascend the stalk. They are gen- 
erally narrowly lance-shaped, and their surface is 
densely covered with tiny dots. The flower heads are 
semi-circular, and from fifteen to forty-five are borne 
on short stems in a long, terminal, wand-like spike. 
They are composed entirely of coloured tubular florets. 
The large leafy cup has five or six rows of long, bristly, 
purple-tipped scales. The tuberous root has been used 
as a remedy for sore throats, and also as a cure for 
rattlesnake bite. It ranges from the Gulf of Mexico 
to Maine, Ontario and Nebraska. 
THE ASTERS 
The Asters or Starworts come tripping along toward 
the last of August, with the Golden-rods, and continue 
throughout September and most of October in such 
profusion that they appear to completely smother 
everything with their beautiful starry flowers. With- 
out the Asters, the glorious American autumn would 
lose much of its lovely charm, for every roadside, fence- 
row, field, meadow and hillside is brilliantly spangled 
with their scintillating and billowy radiance, and I 
have often surmised that perhaps Dame Nature 
rehearsed them annually for a grand snow-scene ta- 
bleau. Subject to great variation, big and little, short 
and tall, dense and sparse, ragged and tidy, they 
become: highly confusing, and it takes considerable 
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