✨️🌸✨️ The New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae)

🌐👨‍🌾🚢 The plant is native to central and eastern North America, but it has been introduced to Europe, Central Asia, Hispaniola, New Zealand, and some western parts of North America. It is a popular garden plant, and this one was photographed on a green strip along a roadside.

🐝🌸📆 Its flowering season lasts from August to November. Like sunflowers, zinnias, and ragwort, it belongs to the daisy family. Its flower heads are made up of many tiny flowers surrounded by what look like petals. This design is very useful for insects, because it gives them a stable landing platform and easy access to nectar and pollen, without having to cling tightly or fly around too much.

⚕️🌿🤒 Among Indigenous peoples of North America, the plant was known for medicinal uses.

😍✨️🥰 It was also used for other purposes: for example, the Iroquois used it as a love medicine.

🤗 For a more nuanced discussion, please feel free to use the comments section, private messages or the anonymous contact form on my website.

🌸🐝 Okay, I'm a first-year bumblebee apprentice: What exactly am I doing here? Where do I stick my proboscis, where do I rub my butt? Do I have to pull any levers? 🤔💭

📖 Youth-and-age,
🔎 Zinnia elegans

🤗 For a more nuanced discussion, please feel free to use the comments section, private messages or the anonymous contact form on my website.