Aster. 
(A F T E R-T HOUGHT.) 
“Like a pleasant thought, 
When such are wanted.” Anon. 
T he Aster, or Starwort, represents an exceedingly nu¬ 
merous family which derives its name from the Greek 
word aster, signifying star. In the language of flowers it is 
said to be emblematical of after-thought, because it begins to 
blow when other flowers are scarce. “It is like an aftei- 
thought of Flora’s, who smiles at leaving us.” 
The different varieties of this flower are very numerous ; 
and, being very showy, of almost every colour, and those 
colours remarkably vivid, they make a brilliant figure in oui 
gardens in autumn. 
The general favourite is the China aster, which is larger and 
handsomer than any of the others. Europe is indebted for 
this variety to Father d’Incarville, a Jesuit missionary, who, in 
1730, sent some seeds of it to the royal gardens at Paris. 
This flower is much admired by the Chinese, who make con¬ 
siderable use of it in the decorations of their gardens, arranging 
it so as to rival the richest patterns of Persian carpets, or the 
most curious figures that can be devised by the artist in filigree. 
The French are fond of this flower, and from the resemblance 
which its blossoms bear in shape, although on a much larger 
scale, to the daisy, call it La Reine Marguerite, or Queen daisy. 
The amellus spoken of by the Greek and Latin poets is 
supposed to belong to the aster tribe : 
“The attic star, so named in Grecian use, 
But call’d amellus by the Mantuan muse,” 
says Rapine ; and Virgil, in his fourth “ Georgic,” says: “We 
have also a flower in the meadows, which the country people 
