Perhaps the most handsome species of all, here in Iowa, is the solidago speciosa, or the showy golden-rod, which sometimes grows five, six or seven feet high in rich soil, with a stout, smooth stem and big, smooth leaves, the lower ones broadly oval and sometimes from four to ten inches long and one to four inches wide.  The Missouri golden-rod is a slender and dainty species with long, narrow leaves, their margins very rough, as you may tell by drawing your fingers along them.

There are about eighty-five different species of golden-rod in the United States, but the task of naming them all that grow in one locality is not difficult for the nature-lover.  The above list is practically all that grow hereabouts.  And it is so with the asters.  There are about two hundred fifty species of asters, and most of them are found in North America.  But usually a dozen or fifteen only are to be found in the average locality.  Here, among others, may be found the beautiful aster Novae-Anglia, or New England aster with blue or rose-colored rays and a yellow center, the blossoms fluffy and large, often fully two inches across.  In some parts of the east it is called “Farewell to Summer,” but it may usually be found in the latter part of August.  This year it was in full bloom as early as August 21.  Another beautiful aster to be found on prairies and dry banks is the aster sericeus, or silvery aster, with silvery-white silky leaves and large, violet blue heads, the rays sometimes two-thirds of an inch long.  One of the earliest and most common of the asters is the aster sagittifolius, or arrow-leaved aster, with white or pale blue flowers, and its companion, the heart-leaved aster.  More beautiful is the lovely smooth or blue aster, the aster laevis, with clasping, oblong tapering leaves and sky-blue heads, sometimes violet, fully an inch across.  The aster multiflorus, or dense flowered aster, is bushy with small rigid, crowded leaves, and a multitude of small heads crowded on the spreading branches, the rays generally white like big balls of snow.  The aster salicifolius has a slender stem much branched above, long and narrow leaves, with violet, violet-purple or rarely white rays, and aster prenanthoides or crooked stem aster, may be told by its zigzag stem, its oblong, saw-toothed leaves and its violet rays.  Two other beautiful species found hereabouts are the aster azureus, which blooms from August until after frost, with a slender but stiff and roughish stem, and many bright violet-blue flowers with short rays; and the aster Shortii, or Short’s aster, which is found on banks and along the edges of woods and does not usually bloom until September.  It has a slender stem and thickish leaves, heart-shaped at the base; its rays number from ten to fifteen and are usually bright blue, sometimes violet blue.

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