288 FLOWERS OF FIELD, HILL, AND SWAMP 



26 



S. sqicarrbsa is stout-stemmed, 2 to 5 feet tall. Leaves, 

 toothed, veiny, large, with margined petioles. Heads of flow- 

 ers large, clustered in leafy, compound, elongated spikes. 



Mountains of Virginia and northward to the hills of Vermont. 



27. Aster 



Aster macrophyllus is 2 or 3 feet high, stout and rigid, white 

 or bluish. Leaves rough, serrate, the lower with long petioles, 

 heart-shaped, very long and wide ; upper, sessile or with short 

 petioles. Heads of flowers in large, firm corymbs. 



28. Everlasting 



Gnapha/ium decurrens (" a lock of wool," from the plant's 

 downy appearance). — Family, Composite. Color, white flow- 

 ers with yellowish scales underneath. Leaves, linear, lance- 

 shaped, slightly clasping, and running down the stem. Time, 

 summer. 



A stout, erect, very woolly plant, 2 feet high, the flowers, 

 with their dry and scarious scales, clustered in dense, flat- 

 topped masses. 



From Mr. Gibson we learn that a species of butterfly (" Hun- 

 ter's") with orange, black, and rose-colored wings selects this 

 plant from which to hang its cocoon, made of the petals of the 

 flowers woven together with its own silk. He says : " If we take 

 a walk in the grassy road, in the pasture-lot, or mountain-path, 

 we may now (September 22d) find dozens of them. Yonder is a 

 clump of the everlasting among the sweet-fern. It is white with 

 blossoms, and some of them seem fraying out in the wind. Our 

 bower-builder is certainly there — perhaps a dozen of them. Ah, 

 yes, here is our bower dangling from the top of the stem and 

 blowing in the breeze." 



