Plate 52. 
STRIPED PiEONY-PLOWERED ASTERS. 
CallistepJiiis chinensis pceonijlorus striatus. 
The variety of Aster which we here represent is of quite a 
different habit from that which formed the subject of a former 
Plate (37), being taller and more spreading, as well as more 
loosely branched, The flower-heads are equally beautiful, and 
very much varied in colour, those we have selected having a 
striped appearance, occasioned by the margins of the florets 
being white. They were selected from among a large assort¬ 
ment of remarkably fine and very beautifully grown Asters, 
cultivated last summer in the Che shunt Nurseries of Mr. Wil¬ 
liam Paul, at Waltham Cross, to whom we are indebted for the 
samples placed in the hands of our artist; and they are, we 
learn, the result of very careful selection on the part of Mr. 
W. Paul, and an amateur friend, through a period of some 
twenty years. They appear to be almost or quite identical in 
character with what is called the pteony-floAvered Aster—one 
of the forms which have been gradually perfected in the French 
gardens, and hence generally known as French or tasseled 
Asters. 
The plants of this variety grow to the average height of a 
foot, scarcely more, and they produce several branches from near 
the base, each of which, as well as the central stem, is furnished 
with a large flower-head similar to those here represented. The 
large size and compact formation of these flower-heads give 
them sufficient weight to cause the branches to lean to one 
side, and this being the case with all the branches alike, there 
being no stiff erect centre, the entire plant has a moderately 
Plate 52.—Callistephus chineksis, var. p^eqnielorus striatus : mode¬ 
rately tall, branched, and spreading; flower-heads large, full, with numerous 
imbricating strap-shaped florets, which are distinctly margined with white. 
