WILD FLOWERS BLUE AND PURPLB 
enough in dry copses, from New Brunswick and Ontario 
to Florida, Alabama and Arkansas, during mare 
September and October. 
COMMON BLUE WOOD ASTER 
Aster cordifolius. Thistle Family. 
This is a very handsome, spreading, bushy and 
small-flowered Aster, growing from one to five feet 
high, in partly shaded woods, roadsides, thickets and 
on dry banks from early August until the frost and 
snow finally obliterate them. The slender, leafy stalk 
is almost smooth, much-branched and often stained 
with purple. The thin-textured, sharply toothed 
leaves have a rough surface, and on the under side, 
the more prominent veins are lightly covered with fine 
hairs. They are decidedly heart-shaped, taper to a 
slender point, and are set on slender stems. As they 
ascend the stalk, the leaves become shorter-stemmed 
and are egg-shaped or lance-shaped in outline. From 
ten to twenty delicately coloured rays surround the 
dark centre of the flower- heads, which are densely 
clustered like little handfuls of confetti, toward the lips 
of the numerous branches. This is one of our com- 
monest Asters, and ranges from New Brunswick to 
Minnesota, Georgia and Missouri. 
_ SMOOTH ASTER 
Aster laévis. Thistle Family. 
‘A variable but most elegant Aster everywhere com- 
‘mon in dry soil along roadsides and in open woods, 
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