WILD FLOWERS BLUE AND PURPLE 
hairy, lance-shaped leaves are pointed at the tip, and 
heart-shaped at their base, where they snugly clasp the 
stalk. They are toothless, and the texture is tbin. 
The numerous flower heads are from one to two inches 
broad, and are clustered at the ends of the branches. 
From thirty to forty narrow rays, varying in colour 
from light violet to rich purple, or rarely white, 
surround the perfect five-lobed, tubular, yellow; 
purple-stained disc florets, which are set in a large; 
sticky green cup. This beautiful Aster is commonly 
found in rich fields and along swamps from Quebec 
to the Northwest Territory, and south to South 
Carolina, Missouri, Kansas and Colorado, during 
August, September and October. 
LATE PURPLE ASTER. PURPLE DAISY 
Aster patens. Thistle Family 
One of our most attractive, early flowering and com- 
mon blue Asters, frequenting dry, open places from 
August to October, and ranging from Maine and Min- 
nesota to Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. The slen- 
der leafy stalk is rough and widely branching. It 
grows from one to three feet high, and is often stained 
with purple. The long, lance-shaped leaves are rather 
thick and rigid, and they are decidedly heart-shaped 
at the base where they partly clasp the stalk. Their 
margins and upper surfaces are rough. The soli- 
tary flowers are an inch or more broad, and they crown 
the tips.of the spreading branches. Twenty or thirty 
showy rays of.a deep rich violet surround the yellow, 
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