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28 October: I recently collected some insects from one of the few flower sets that are still in bloom in late October, most recently near York Redoubt in Halifax, and would like a tentative ID for this plant. The flowers are 2-3 cm across, have pale blue-violet petals (rays) with a yellow central disk, multiple heads per stalk and simple blade-like leaves. They are very common in clumps at the roadside and on unused land and look like what I used to call michaelmas daisies. I counted about 25 petals per head though they are looking quite beaten up by this date, so perhaps had a few more petals originally. As a non-botanist, I think these are most likely asters, either New York Aster (Symphotrichum novi-belgii), with New England Aster (Symphotrichum novae-angliae) less likely -- that species should have ~40 petals per head. Maybe this info is not much to go on for a possible ID, but does it sound like a reasonable guess, or is there something else out there that I should be considering instead? Any suggestions welcome, including "get yourself a decent flower-ID book". Steve Halifax
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