436 
Fie. 302.— Purple- 
stemmed Aster (Aster pu- 
niceus). 
xX}. 
COMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY) 
rather short pedicels, each about an inch 
broad, with light yellow disk and many 
pale purple or lilac rays; bracts of the 
W .involucre usually in two rows, linear, 
smooth, green, spreading. Achenes hairy, 
the long, tufted pappus nearly white. 
This weed is in bloom so early that 
flowering stems are often cut with hay, 
- and seeds ripen on the stalks. (Fig. 
302.) 
Means of control 
Deprive the plant of its loved mois- 
ture by better drainage. Prevent seed 
production and starve the perennial roots 
by frequent close cutting, and so fertilize, 
cultivate, and improve the ground that 
better plants will supersede the weed, 
ROBIN’S PLANTAIN 
Erigeron pulchéllus, Michx. 
ee English names: Blue Spring Daisy, Poor Robin, Rose Petty. 
ative. 
Time of bloom: April to June. 
Seed-time: May to July. 
Range: Nova Scotia to Ontario and Minnesota, southward to 
Florida and Louisiana. 
Habitat: Hillsides, woodland borders, moist banks. 
Propagates by seeds and off-sets. 
Stems slender, simple, softly hairy, ten to twenty inches tall. 
Base-leaves tufted, spatulate or long obovate, obtuse, softly hairy 
on both sides, with a few shallow teeth, and tapering to short- 
margined petioles; stem-leaves small, distant, narrow-ovate to 
lance-shaped, sessile or partly clasping, usually entire. Heads few, 
in a terminal cluster, each an inch or more broad, with many 
narrow purple rays varying from pale lilac to deep violet; disk 
broad and flat, greenish yellow, its florets perfect. Achenes 
flattened, nearly smooth, with pappus of a single row of fine hairs. 
