BLUE AND PURPLE FLOWERS 
BLUE AND PURPLE ASTERS (Composite Family) 
Late flowering herbs, mostly perennials, named from aster, 
a star. The flower-heads have yellow centres (disks) of tubular, 
perfect flowers, surrounded by pistillate rays. A few common 
ones have been selected. They may be divided into these three 
classes: (i) Some leaves heart-shaped and slender-stalked, 
(2) leaves clasping, and (3) neither. Into (i) iaWmacrophyllus, 
undulatus, and cordifolins; into (2) novcB-anglics, novi-helgii, 
pumceus, and patens; into (3) spectabilis, linariiJoLius, and 
lateriflorus. 
New England Aster {Aster novcB-angUce) . August to 
October. 
A tall species, with stout hairy branches. Flower-heads an 
inch or more across, with thirty or more long magenta-purple 
rays. Bracts of the involucre spreading. Finely hairy leaves, 
lance-shaped and clasping, without teeth. Open places. 
Showy Aster {Aster spectabilis). August to October. 
A low, stiff stem bears a few flowers, as large as a fifty-cent 
piece, with twenty to thirty long purple rays. Leaves thick, 
lower oval, pointed, with long, slender stems and few teeth; 
upper lance-shaped to linear, without teeth and without stalks. 
Sandy ground near coast. 
New York Aster {Aster novi-belgii). August to October. 
A smooth, slender stem, maximum three feet. Flower-heads 
(half-dollar size) loosely clustered, the (violet) rays averaging 
about twenty, bracts of the involucre inclined to spread. Leaves 
lance-shaped, sometimes slightly toothed, somewhat clasping. 
Generally near the sea. 
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