Goldenrod and Asters.

August 21 

Solidago

Rains still all day, and wind rises, and shakes off much fruit and beats down the corn.

The prevailing solidagos now are, 

• lst, stricta (the upland and also meadow one which I seem to have called puberula); 
• 2d, the three-ribbed, of apparently several varieties, which I have called arguta or gigantea (apparently truly the last); 
• 3d, altissima, though commonly only a part of its panicles; 
• 4th, nemoralis, just beginning generally to bloom.
• Then there is the odora, 5th, out some time, but not common; and, 
• 6th, the bicolor, just begun in some places. 

Wood Aster

The commonest asters now are, 

• 1st, the Radula; 
• 2d, dumosus; 
• 3d, patens; 
• 4th, say puniceus; 
• 5th, cordtfolius; 
• 6th, macrophyllus; (these two a good while); 
• 7th, say Tradescanti; 
• 8th, miser; 
• 9th, longifolius ; (these three quite rare yet);
• 10th, probably acuminatus, some time (not seen); 
• 11th, undulatus; 
• 12th, loevis; (these two scarcely to be seen yet). 

N. B. Water so high I have not seen early meadow aster lately.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, August 21, 1856

Wind rises, and shakes off much fruit and beats down the corn. See August 26, 1851('The ground is strewn with windfalls."); August 29, 1852 ("The ground in orchards is covered with windfalls; imperfect fruits now fall."); September 13, 1852 ("Yesterday, it rained all day, with considerable wind, which has strewn the ground wth apples and peaches, and, all the country over, people are busy picking up the windfalls"); September 17, 1858 ("The orchards are strewn with windfalls, mostly quite green.")

Prevailing solidagos . . .  commonest asters. See August 6, 1853 ("Do not the flowers of August and September generally resemble suns and stars?”); August 12, 1854 ("The common asters now are the patens, dumosus, Radula, and Diplopappus umbellatus."); August 14, 1856 ("Solidago odora abundantly out.”); August 21, 1851 ("This afternoon I noticed a yellow spider on a goldenrod; as if every condition might have its expression in some form of animated being . . .Spear-leaved goldenrod in path to northeast of Flint's Pond.”); August 18, 1854 ("The solidago nemoralis is now abundantly out on the Great Fields.”); August 24, 1853 ("The goldenrods which I have observed in bloom this year .(1) stricta, (2) lanceolata, (3) arguta (?), (4) nemoralis etc. . . .The asters are about in this order: (1) Radula, (2) D. cornifolius (?), (3) A. corymbosus, etc"); August 19, 1858 ("We have our first green corn to-day, but it is late."); August 30, 1853 ("Why so many asters and goldenrods now? The sun has shone on the earth, and the goldenrod is his fruit. The stars, too, have shone on it, and the asters are their fruit.”); August 30, 1859 ("The prevailing flowers, considering both conspicuous-ness and numbers, at present time, as I think now: Solidagos, especially large three-ribbed, nemoralis, tall rough, etc.; Asters, especially Tradescanti, puniceus, corymbosus, dumosus, Diplopappus umbellatus"); August 31, 1853 ("The asters and goldenrods are now in their prime, I think.") See also A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, Asters in August

August 21. See A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, August 21

Rains still all day wind 

rises and shakes off much fruit 

and beats down the corn.

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Goldenrod and Asters

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau

"A book, each page written in its own season,

out-of-doors, in its own locality.”

~edited, assembled and rewritten by zphx © 2009-2026

https://tinyurl.com/hdt-560821