White woodland asters, (top) such as these, are very common along the roadside in The Parklands, although these were found growing along the road leading into Draper Field.  I haven't seen any New Enland asters in Hopedale this year so I took the picture of the one here (bottom) in front of the new Milford cat shelter on 140.  There are some that look quite a bit like New England asters along Hopedale Pond but I think they're actually purple-stemmed asters.  This is a good example of confusion in common names for plants.  In the Audibon Field Guide to New England the purple-stemmed aster (Aster puniceus) is also known as bristly aster and swamp aster.  However, the Audibon field guide to North American Wildflowers doesn't list a purple-stemmed aster but it does have a bristly aster, aka stiff aster.  This bristly aster isn't the same as the one listed in the Field Guide to New England, though.  It's scientific name is Aster linariifolius.                             Wildflower menu                   Next                          HOME