Branching Aster.Aster cordifolius.
Found in the latter part of September in shaded thickets and on dry banks.
The stalk is often about 4 feet high, very widely branching, leafy, and bearing a profusion of flowers; it has a coarse, very rough surface usually. In color reddish.
The leaf has a heart-shaped base, and pointed tip, a slightly notched or entire margin, and a coarse texture, the surface generally being rough above and also on the underside of the midrib; the upper leaves clasp the stalk, while the lower, and larger, leaves are set on short hairy stems. In color, a rather dull green. They are numerous all the way from foot to tip.
The many flower-heads, are small, with 14 to 20 delicate, short, pale-lavender rays; the cups are smooth and shining, and are set on leafy foot-stems, in large loose clusters.
Coming just as its purple and white sisters are departing, and as though desiring to atone for their cessation, this delightful late Aster fills the country roads and lanes with the generous abundance of its misty gray-lavender bloom.