10 
Aster salignus, Willd. ? Shores of Derwentwater; Miss Edmonds. 
Concerning this plant, Miss Edmonds writes, “ It has been seen for 
many years by a local botanist, but has never been noticed at the 
flowering season, till this autumn. I visited the spot immediately on its 
being made known to me, and found the said plant in great luxuriance, 
established in a bed of sedges, perhaps to the extent of the eighth of 
an acre, and full of blossom, though passing into seed ... It seems 
that the plant was known by Miss Wright and her late father, for 
thirty years past, but, although puzzled about it, they were content 
to suppose it some stray production, and the reason of their never 
having seen it in flower may be that the said reedy spot is very gene- 
rally under water. There have been drains lately cut across it, and, 
the late summer favouring it, the locality has been more readily ac- 
cessible. The colour of the flowers when fresh was a delicate lilac.” 
— Mary Edmonds. 
Mr. H. C. Watson and Mr. J. G. Baker concur in considering this 
as A. salignus, Willd. Professor Babington says it is not that plant. 
Having now no herbarium but my own within reach, for consultation, 
I am unable to decide the question. I do not think it is the same as 
the plant which I have from the Rhine, near Strasbourg, under the 
names of “ A. saligtius, AVilld.,” and “ A. salicifolius, Scholler,” which 
is the common American A. longifolius , Lam. ; but Wirtgen, in his 
‘ Flora of the Rhine Provinces,’ intimates his doubts of the Rhine 
plant being A. salignus, Willd. The Derwentwater plant has a more 
hispid stem, and the leaves scabrous all over the upper surface. I 
have not seen specimens of the so-called A. salignus from the banks of 
the Tay, or from Wicken Fen, but judging from Professor Babington’s 
description, the Cambridgeshire plant is the same as the Rhenish one. 
If I might venture to apply a name to the Derwentwater Aster , it 
would be A. puniceus, Linn., but my American specimens of this plant 
are' poor, and it belongs to the most puzzling group of that very intri- 
cate genus.* 
* I must confess myself unable, after examining specimens from many dis- 
tant localities, to draw any clear line of distinction between the European 
Asters, which have been called salignus, on the one hand, and on the other, the 
American A. simplex , Willd., and A. longifolius , Lam., both very common and 
well-known as wild plants in the United States and often cultivated in gardens. 
A. simplex and longifolius quite correspond in the size of the heads, the general 
habit of the plant, and the shape of the leaves. The character principally re- 
