365 Urban Species. #213: White Wood Aster

Photos by cottonmanifesto. Location: steps of the now-vacant site of the Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Fenwood Road, Boston.

Urban species #113: White wood aster Eurybia divaricata

Asters are a huge group of daisy-like flowers that generally bloom in late summer and autumn. They are very difficult to identify--so I'm treading on thin ice with this one (in fact, I have changed my mind at least once with this identification. White wood aster is a common eastern North American species that frequently occurs in urban areas, in both wooded and vacant lots. It is distinguished by having relatively few rays (the white petals), and a rather weedy look. It's a perennial that spends most of the year looking rangy and unattractive to most people, but in bloom produces a cluster of charming flowers. In fact, it has been brought to Europe to be used as an ornamental. White wood aster also attracts bees and butterflies.


I'm photographing her photographing me.

( and so )

Thanks!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes!

Thanks also for your suggestions for vacation activities in the Seattle/Vancouver/Vancouver Island area. Lots of great suggestions to get us started. Hopefully I'll be posting from the road, showing some of the sights, and giving my impressions.

I'd love to continue posting my 365 Urban Species posts while I'm on vacation, but I'm reserving the right to slack off--it's a vacation, after all! If I slack, I'll post when I return, like when we went to Antigua.

I'm looking forward to this trip! It should be really fun, but very unstructured, requiring lots of planning (half-assed, most likely) from my dad and I, and lots of driving (not my favorite thing). It's my first visit to the Pacific Northwest, and I've wanted to visit most of my life!

The laptop is coming with me, and I'm imagining the wi-fi access will be better than in Easter Island or Springfield, Mass., so I'll continue to check in with livejournal and my email. If anyone out there suddenly realizes something great we need to see up there, please let me know!

For my East Coast friends: Please take it easy tomorrow--if you don't have a/c at work, call in sick and spend the day at the movies or in the supermarket. It is not going to be pleasant, by almost anyone's standards.