Interesting Facts We Bet You Didn’t Know About Aster: The September Flower

Daisy look-alike Asters are star-shaped flowers that boast multiple vibrant hues. The flowers are long admired for their beauty and known for their gorgeous array of shapes, sizes and styles. Also known as the ‘Enchanted flowers’, Asters are widely used to style decorative arrangements for birthdays and anniversaries. There are plenty of interesting facts associated with Aster flowers. Let’s get acquainted with some of them.

Dedicated To The September-Born

Aster is the birth flower for September babies and is also known as the ‘Herb of Goddess Venus’. Given it is considered a talisman of great love, it was used as one of the significant ingredients when making love potions.

Meaning & Origin

Aster flowers derive their name from the Greek word ‘Aster’ that means ‘star’. It is because the heads of Aster flowers strike an uncanny resemblance to stars. Though the flower appears like a daisy, it is a relative of the sunflower. Belonging to the order Asterales, Aster flowers are also related to Chrysanthemums and Marigolds.

Types of Asters

New England asters (Aster Novae-angliae) and New York asters (Aster Novi-belgii) are two main kinds of Aster flowers. New England asters are usually taller (can grow up to six feet high), whereas the latter is shorter (growing to three feet in height). Asters from New England have full, dense flowers blooming in late summer or early fall. Contrarily, New York aster has thinner stems and smooth leaves.

History of Asters

The legend has it that Aster came into existence from the tears of a Greek goddess Astraea. One day, when Astraea looked at the earth and could not find any stars, she began to cry. So wherever her tears fell, the Aster burst forth out of the soil.

Symbolism & Mythology

In ancient times, the leaves of Aster were burned to chase away snakes and evil spirits. It was a widespread saying that the burnt leaves supposedly produced a perfume powerful enough to repel venomous serpents.

Also, long ago, in French culture, the flowers of Aster were said to be laid on the graves of fallen soldiers to express their yearning for a war to end. However, today Aster symbolises the quality of love, patience, elegance, good luck and gained wisdom.