Discussion

This week's painting subject combines two plants in the same composition.

Balsam Aster

The Latin name for the flower that Japanese call the nokongiku is Aster microcephalus var. ovatus. The literal translation of nokongiku into English is wild blue aster. A common name for it is ovate-leafed head-flowered aster. That's a mouthful . I found one source, now forgotten, that calls it a balsam aster. It is a type of wild chrysanthemum. This one is white with a slightly purplish cast.

Here is a good side view of the fully open blossom.

Here is a look at a small cluster of them.

Some varieties are much more strongly purple.

Many related plants have composite blossoms that look like a single large flower but which are really composed of many, tightly-grouped, smaller blossoms. The Balsam aster's flowers don't form tightly clustered groups, but they do often grow in close proximity with each other.

Balsam asters are native to Japan and the Russian Far East. They are perennials that are tolerant to cold weather. The leaves are edible, and young leaves are often cooked like vegetables in Japan. The fruit is mildly toxic and should be avoided.

Blossoming usually occurs late summer to autumn. Balsam asters can provide color to a landscape when other flowers have faded.

Quaking Grass

Quaking grass, a type of grass, refers to plant species in the genus Briza. They all appear similar to this illustration.

Quaking grasses are annuals. The largest of the quaking grasses, Briza maxima, grows to from 1 to 2 feet tall. The seeds are edible, especially those from Briza maxima. The leaves, or rather the juices from the leaves, are edible and nutritious, too, but it takes a lot of chewing to get the juice before discarding the solid matter. In other words, one needs to be motivated to go after the leaves. 

Here is a close-up view of one of the spikelets.

Quaking grass has several common names, a couple of which are rattlesnake grass and trembling grass. The rattlesnake grass name is easy to guess because of the appearance of the spikelets; like a rattlesnake's rattle. The trembling grass name is because the slightest breeze sets the grass and spikelets in motion. When fully mature, the seeds are slightly loose and can make slight rattling sound when the wind is blowing. An entire field of them can appear to be trembling.