This flower is also known as the European Michaelmas daisy. For the American Michaelmas daisy of our authors, Symphyotrichum tradescantii, see Tradescant's aster. I have separated the two as this second species was the one cited by Henry Phillips in his 1825 work, where he establishes 'Cheerfulness in Old Age', but given this plant is native to Britain and the two look almost identical, there is likely some conflation going on between the two. I have chosen to keep them separate until one of my sources cites Aster amellus with these meanings.

☙ Italian Aster

A.k.a. Michaelmas daisy.

Aster amellus L. (1753) WFO BD K&H

Period English: amellus; K&H Italian starwort. K&H

Period French: Ɠil-de-Christ m. ('Christ's-eye'). BD K&H

Period Italian: amello m? [= astro amello m.?]; K&H astero affico di fior turchino m. ('turquoise-flowered aster'). K&H

Sentiments: None given, but see also Tradescant's aster.

Region:

Native: Caucasus (North Caucasus; Transcaucasus); West Siberia; Turkey; Eastern Europe (Baltic States; Belarus; Central, East and Southern European Russia; Krym; Ukraine); Austria; Belgium; Czechoslovakia; Germany; Hungary; Poland; Switzerland; Great Britain; Norway; Albania; Bulgaria; Italy; Romania; Yugoslavia; France; Spain.WFO

Introduced: Laos; Myanmar; Vietnam.WFO

Seasonality: Deciduous perennial flowering from late summer to autumn.

Period Colours:

The Amellus, or Italian Starwort, has a large blue and yellow flower. The leaves and stalks being rough and bitter, are not eaten by cattle; and thus remaining in the pastures after the grass has been eaten away, it makes a fine show when in full flower.
 — Kent & Hunt p.36.

Emblems: TBA.

Cultural and Religious: TBA.

Cited Verse:

❧ 'Est etiam flos in pratis, cui nomen amello / [...] / Pabulaque in foribus plenis appone canistris.', Virgil, Georgics Book IV (c.29 BCE) ll.271-280 (Verg. G. 4.271-280) Read with translation below; K&H

❧ 'Then Attick Star, Ćżo nam'd in Grecian UĆże, / [...] When Grapes now ripe in CluĆżters load the Vine.', 'Of Flowers', ◼︎ RenĂ© Rapin, Hortorum libri IV, Paris (1665), English translation by James Gardiner the Younger as Rapin: Of Gardens. A Latin Poem. In Four Books., Book I, London: W. Bowyer (1706, this version 1718) p.54 Read Here;K&H

Other Verse:

❧ 'The Michaelmas Daisy', ◆︎ Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Literary Gazette 18 March (1820) p.190.


Georgics, Book IV

Publius Vergilius Maro (Virgil), c.29 BCE
Translated by ▲︎ James Bradstreet Greenough, 1900
& ◆︎ John Martyn, 1741 (via K&H)
Latin via ◆︎ Kent & Hunt, 1823


Est etiam flos in pratis, cui nomen amello
Fecere agricolĂŠ; facilis quĂŠrentibus herba;
Namque uno ingentem tollit de cespite silvam,
Aureus ipse; sed in foliis, quĂŠ plurima circum
Funduntur, violĂŠ sublucet purpura nigrĂŠ.
SÊpe Deûm nexis ornatÊ torquibus arÊ.
Asper in ore sapor: tonsis in vallibus illum
Pastores, et curva legunt prope flumina mellĂŠ.
Hujus odorato radices incoque baccho;
Pabulaque in foribus plenis appone canistris.
 — Publius Vergilius Maro (Virgil), c.29 BCE. K&H


There is a meadow-flower by country folk
Hight star-wort; 'tis a plant not far to seek;
For from one sod an ample growth it rears,
Itself all golden, but girt with plenteous leaves,
Where glory of purple shines through violet gloom.
With chaplets woven hereof full oft are decked
Heaven's altars: harsh its taste upon the tongue;
Shepherds in vales smooth-shorn of nibbling flocks
By Mella's winding waters gather it.
The roots of this, well seethed in fragrant wine,
Set in brimmed baskets at their doors for food.
 — ▲︎ James Bradstreet Greenough, 1900.


We also have a flower in the meadows which the country-people call amellus. The herb is very easy to be found; for the root, which consists of a great bunch of fibres, sends forth a vast number of stalks. The flower itself is of a golden colour, surrounded with a great number of leaves, which are purple, like violets. The altars of the gods are often adorned with wreaths of these flowers. It has a bitterish taste. The shepherds gather it in the open valleys, and near the winding stream of the river Mella. Boil the roots of this herb in the best flavored wine; and place baskets full of them before the door of the hive.
 — ◆︎ John Martyn, 1741. K&H


(Verg. G. 4.271-280)
Via the Perseus Catalogue.


Of Gardens, Book I

◼︎ RenĂ© Rapin, 1665
Translated by ◆︎ James Gardiner the Younger, 1706


 Then Attick Star, Ćżo nam'd in Grecian UĆże,
But call'd Amellus by the Mantuan MuĆże,
In Meadows reigns near Ćżome cool Riv'lets Side,
Or marĆżhy Vales where winding Currents glide;
Wreaths of this gilded Flow'r the Shepherds twine,
When Grapes now ripe in CluĆżters load the Vine.


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Rapin: Of Gardens. A Latin Poem. In Four Books., Book I, London: W. Bowyer (1706, this version 1718)
Via the Internet Archive.


Abécédaire de Flore

◼︎ B. DelachĂ©naye, 1811


NOMS DES FLEURS
substituées aux syllabes formées de plusieurs lettres.

NOM DES FLEURS. MOTS ANALOGUES.
51. Ɠilde christ. Ɠil, tilleul, Ă©crureuil.


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51. De l'Ɠil-de-christ.

Cette fleur, par la mĂȘme exception, exprime toutes les finales des mots qui ont le son en Ɠil, malgrĂ© la diffĂ©rence de l’orthographe, comme dans cerfeuil, orgueil, tilleul.


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DESCRIPTION DES PLANTES
DE L’ABÉCÉDAIRE DE FLORE.

QUATRIÉME PLANCHE.


 51. ƒil-de-Christ, Aster Amellus. On l’a trouvĂ© sauvage dans les Alpes de la Suisse et de l’Italie: l’abondance et la beautĂ© de ses fleurs l’ont fait introduire dans les jardins oĂč on le multiplie facilement par la division de ses racines. Elles poussent beaucoup de tiges droites que terminent, sur la fin de l’étĂ©, des fleurs semblables pour la forme Ă  celles du soleil, mais beaucoup plus petites. Des rayons d’un bleu violet et entourant un disque jaune dorĂ©, leur donnent, si l’on veut, l’air d’un Ɠil ou d’un astre: c’est de lĂ  que lui viennent ses noms.


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Cite this page (MLA 9th): Never Never. “Italian Aster.” Glossa Hortensia, 8 Apr. 2025, neverxnever.neocities.org/glossahortensia/aster_amellus. Accessed [DD Mon. YYYY].