ASTER (Gr. a star, from the form of the flowers), a genus of plants of the natural order composite, which Lindley has therefore chosen to call asterame. The ray and the disk are of different colors. The genus contains a great number of species, both herba ceous and shrubby, which have been arranged into six or seven groups, regarded by many as distinct genera. One specks only, A. tripolion or trepolium oulgare, the sea star wort, is a native of Britain. It is common in salt marshes. A number of perennial species are in cultivation as garden-flowers, of which the New England A. (A. 1102:C8 Willa) and the Michaelmas daisy (A. tradeseantO, both natives of North America, are perhaps the most common, and, with some of the other species, are prized as among the comparatively few flowers to be seen at that dull season when autumn is giving place to winter. But the best known and most valued of all the asters is the China A. (A. chinensis), a summer
annual, of which many varieties are in cultivation, and new ones arc continually intro duced. It was brought from China in the earlier part of the 18th century. The varieties exhibit diversities of form and color. The plant delights in a rich free soil. In the northern parts of Britain, the seed is generally sown in April in a hot-bed, or in pots under a frame, and the young asters are planted out in the open air in May. They flower from July to the end of autumn, and contribute much to the liveliness of the flower garden.—.A. argophyllas, or haxtmia argophylla, is a shrub, a native of Van Diemen's land, smelling strongly of musk. The whole plant has a whitish aspect. It grows to a considerable size, but succeeds in the open air only in the very south of England.