COMPOSITE FAMILY 



the type branched long ago and has varied into both dwarf and 

 standard forms. 



Botanically, the genus is an endless confusion; horticulturally, 

 the genus is an endless delight. How long the Aster had been 

 cultivated in China befQre it came into Europe we do not know, 

 bjit it is probg.bIe that it iiS-s been a garden plant for ages. 



,- " -'ASTER 



Asler. f\ , 

 Name is Greek for star; referring to the radiate heads of the flowers. 



Perennial herbs, with erect branching stems and starry flowers; the 

 species freely hybridizing. 



Flower -heads. — Radiate; rays white, 

 purple, lavender, blue, or pink; the disk- 

 florets yellow, often changing to purple. 



Involucre-bracts:^— More or • less imbri- 

 cated, usually with leaf -like tips. 



Receptacle. — Flat, alveolate. 



Pappus. — Simple; of capillary bristles; 

 akenes more or less flattened. 



The glories of color, of size, and of 

 petalage, that lie undeveloped in our 

 native Asters, it has not as yet entered 

 into the heart of florist or gardener even 

 to conceive. To do nothing more than 

 transfer them from the hard conditions 

 of the fields„to relieve their fifercc; strug- 

 gle for wfistence, to anticipate their 

 Aster. Asler ericoides nccd^&d to supply their wants, gives 



them a chance to increase in height, to 

 multiply their stars, to double their rays; ^ in short to indicate 

 what careful cultivation might accomplish. The wealth of the 

 fields has impoverished the garden. One species, Nova Anglim, 

 has been in general cultivation for rather more than a decade 



