Historical meaning and Common Use:
With a rich history in Greek mythology, it’s said that the aster was created by the tears of the Greek goddess, Astrea. One day, she was so upset by how few stars there were in the dark sky, that she began to cry. As she wept, her tears fell to the ground and turned into star-shaped aster flowers Thus, the flower was named after her, with aster meaning star.
The roots of asters were used in soups and young leaves were cooked lightly and used as greens. The Iroquois people combined aster with bloodroot and other medicinal plants to make a laxative. The Ojibwa used an infusion of aster root topically to aid with headaches.