ASTER

(from aster, a star; general shape of flower-heads). Michael mas Daisy; Star-wort. S YN. Pinardia (of Necker). O RD. Compos itæ. Hardy herbaceous perennials, except where otherwise stated. Heads solitary, corymbose, or panicled, heterogamous, rayed; ray florets pistil i fer ous, one or two-seriate, fertile or neuter; ligule elongated, white, blue, or purple; disk florets hermaphrodite, fertile, tubular, yellow, five-cleft; involucre campanulate or hemispheric; bracts few or many-seriate, outer smaller or larger; receptacle flat or convex; pappus hairs few or copious, scabrid, outer sometimes shorter, rigid, and paleaceous. Leaves alternate. This large genus contains many handsome border and alpine deciduous perennials (rarely biennials) of easy culture in ordinary soil. They may be propagated by divisions in autumn or spring, or by seeds in spring. The greenhouse species are mostly evergreen shrubs, requiring a compost of peat, leaf soil, and loam. Cuttings root readily in a sandy soil, under a hand gla , with very little heat.