BLUE AND PURPLE GROUP 



autumnal color. Other species are found in the prairies 

 west and south of New York. (See illustration, p. 356.) 



Blazing Star. Button Snakeroot 



Liatris spicata. — Family, Composite. Color, rose purple. Cor- 

 ollas, tubular, no rays. Heads of flowers, large, crowded on the 

 upper part of the very leafy stems. Leaves, linear, rigid, upright, 

 the lower 3 to 5-nerved. August to October. 



A rough, bristling plant, 2 to 5 feet high, found along road- 

 sides, in moist ground, from Massachusetts to Minnesota and 

 southward. Very handsome, regular flowers of striking 

 color. (See illustration, p. 358.) 



Large Button Snakeroot 



L. scaribsa, — Color, purple. This differs from the last but little, 

 being of a variable type. Leaves, stiff, narrow, the lowest slight- 

 ly broader, petioled, the upper growing smaller until bract-like. 

 Flowers, in round heads, under which the bristling scales of the 

 involucre are very prominent, their tips sometimes purplish. 2 

 to 5 feet high, with same range as the preceding. Late summer. 



Dry, sandy soil, Maine to Nebraska and southward. 



Purple and Blue Asters 



These can be distinguished from each other mainly by 

 their leaves, stems, and places of growth. They appear in 

 late summer and bloom into September or October. 



Showy Aster 



Aster spectabilis. — Family, Composite. Color, bright purple. 

 Disk, small, bright yellow. Leaves, the lower, serrate, broad in 

 the middle, pointed; the upper, oblong to lance - shape, generally 

 entire; all tapering into margined petioles. Bracts of the involucre 

 tipped with purple, recurved, glandular, sticky. Flowers, few or 

 single, on the upper branches. Stem, thick and rough. August 

 to October. 



Near the coast, sandy soil, Massachusetts to Delaware and 

 North Carolina. 



Low, Rough Aster 



A, radala. — Color, pale violet. Leaves, rough above, smooth 

 beneath, oblong to lance-shape, sessile, acute, serrate, distinctly 

 pinnately veined, 2 to 3 inches long. Stem, simple or branched 

 near the summit, very leafy, with flowers in corymbs, generally 



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