BIG LEAF ASTER

BIG LEAF ASTER COVERING THE FOREST FLOOR...

...ROSETTE OF LARGE BASAL LESVES...

...SMALLER LEAVES OF THE FLOWERING STEM...

ASTER FLOWERING STEM WITH FLOWER PANICLE

Tuesday, 8:30 AM.  64 degrees F at the ferry dock, 61 on the back porch.  Wind ENE with light to moderate gusts.  The sky is quite cloudy, the humidity 88%.  The barometer is steady, at 29.88".  There is heavy dew on the grass (the dew point is 61 degrees) and heavy fog  is reported throughout much of NW Wisconsin.  Highs will be in the mid 60's through the week, with chances of rain and thunderstorms; then warmer and clearing on the weekend.

   The big leaf aster, Aster macrophyllus, in the Sunflower Family, the Compositae, is an early aster of woods and woods edges.  In the Bayfield region it forms large colonies in the mixed  conifer and hardwoods  under story.  The species name translates from the Latin as large-leaved.  It seems to be blooming several weeks later than last year, a function, I suppose, of the cool late spring and mild summer weather.
   The perennial plant has a rosette of large basal leaves, from which it sends up a flower  spike with smaller leaves on the stalk, topped by a panicle of white to light pink to mauve composite flowers wlth a bright yellow center.  All in all it is an attractive flowering ground cover. It ranges from the mixed forests of the northeast and Canada to around the great lakes and beyond, and southward in the Appalachian Mountains.

   The young leaves are edible and were used as greens by American Indians, and smoked as an attractant and charm for deer hunting.
   Big leaf aster is one of those valuable native ground cover plants that builders and new homeowners  probably don't recognize, and often damage irretrievably during construction.  It is always wise to get some expert advice on what is growing before drawing a plan or plotting a home or driveway on a wooded lot.