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NAT. ORDER. COMPOSIT^E. 
Aster Chinensis. China Aster, or China Starwort. This is an 
elegant annual plant, rising in height from eighteen inches to two 
feet ; the stem is erect, stiff, furrowed, and about the size of the little 
finger, putting out long bending branches from the top to the bottom ; 
the leaves near the ground, and at the origin of the branches, are large, 
and resemble those of common Chenopodium, (the mandrake tribe;) 
those on the branches are much smaller, and the upper ones nar- 
rower and very entire ; the flowers are the largest and most beauti- 
ful of any of the species in this genus ; the disk yellow — at first flat, 
then convex ; the floscules of the ray are broad and long, and 
scarcely notched at the end. 
There are varieties of this plant with single white flowers, single 
purple flowers, single red flowers ; with double white flowers, double 
blue flowers, double red flowers, and with variegated blue and white 
flowers. 
Aster tradescanti. Virgin's Starwort. This species is clothed with 
radical leaves three or four inches long, like those of the willow ; their 
color varying from a green to a purplish brown, with small scattered 
serratures. From the centre of these leaves rise several round, 
smooth, woody, brownish stems, clothed with similar leaves, only 
shorter. These are elegantly divided into many slender, hard 
bunches^ two or three feet high, and adorned with an abundance of 
very small white flowers during the months of September and Octo- 
ber. According to some, the disk is purple. The ray of the corolla 
is white, and afterwards purplish. It is a native of Virginia. 
Aster Alpinus. Alpine or Great Mountain Starwort. This spe- 
cies rises from four to six inches in height, never more than ten in 
its native situation, and when transplanted into gardens, from nine 
to ten, but never above sixteen. At the top of each stalk is one 
large blue flower, somewhat like that of the Italian Starwort. It is 
a native of the Alps, and flowers in June. There are also varieties 
of this, some with white rays and some with blue rays. 
Aster NovcB Anglia. New England Starwort. This species 
