
PLANTS GROWING IN WASTE SOIL. 325 
Aster patens, late purple aster, Plate CXXXIII, appears 
along the roadsides in early August, and is one of the first 
shadowy prophecies of the approaching autumn, It isa large, 
beautiful species with solitary flower-heads, a half inch to two 
inches in diameter, and borne at the end of rough, spreading 
branches. It is readily known by its lanceolate, clasping upper 
leaves and the heart-shaped ones of the lower stem. 
A, /evis, smooth aster, Plate CX XXIII, is a similar species, 
only its flower-heads are clustered together ina panicle. Its 
colour is not such a deep purple as that of A. patens, and it 
seldom reaches over two feet high. It lives by the roadsides 
or in the open wood borders, and is one of the most lovely of 
the family. 
A, cordifolius is the tiny pale blue aster with the saucy little 
dark disk-flowers that peep through the fences along the road- 
sides. Its flower-heads are numerous in a loose panicle ; and 
its leaves, as its name indicates, are heart-shaped. The plant 
is smooth in texture. 
A, ericoides, white heath aster, is the familiar tiny white aster 
that is so conspicuous along the roadsides. It grows about a 
foot high, and bears innumerable flower-heads on its wiry, 
spreading branches. 
A. divaricatus, white wood aster, is also noticeable along the: 
roadside and by thin borders of open woods. It has but few, 
six to nine, white rays in loosely clustered flower-heads. The 
leaves are long, narrow, and grow upon zigzag stems. 
As the golden-rods, the asters are a peculiar feature of the 
unrivalled tints of the American autumn. 
“ There is a lesson in each flower, 
A story in each stream and bower ; 
In every herb on which you tread, 
Are written words, which rightly read 
Will lead you from earth’s fragrant soil, 
To hope and holiness and God.” 
—ALLEN CUNNINGHAM. 
