Liatris aestivalis
Liatris cokeri
blazing star, summer gayfeather
Coker's gayfeather, sandhill's blazing star, Sandhills gayfeather
glabrous.
glabrous.
basal and proximal cauline 1-nerved, linear to linear-lanceolate, 70–150 × 1–2.5 mm, abruptly or gradually reduced on distal 1/2 of stems, essentially glabrous (margins sometimes sparsely ciliate).
basal and proximal cauline 1-nerved, lance-linear to linear, 50–150 × 2–5 mm, gradually or abruptly reduced distally, essentially glabrous (proximal margins sparsely ciliate).
0.
0 or (ascending) 1–6(–10) mm.
cylindro-turbinate, 9–12 × 3.5–5 mm.
cylindro-turbinate, (7–)8–9 × 3.5–4 mm.
3–4(–5);
corolla tubes glabrate inside.
4–7(–9);
corolla tubes pilose inside.
in 2–3 series, (often dark purple in anthesis) oblong-lanceolate to lanceolate-triangular, weakly unequal, essentially glabrous, margins without hyaline borders, sometimes sparsely ciliate, apices acute to acute-attenuate (sometimes with narrow tips).
in 3–4 series, ovate-oblong, oblong, or oblong-lanceolate (inner 7.5–10 × 1–1.8 mm), strongly unequal, essentially glabrous, margins with hyaline borders (lacking at apices), ciliolate, apices (inner and middle, sometimes outer) rounded to blunt, involute-cuspidate to short-acuminate.
(closely spaced, stems obscured) in dense, (cylindric) spiciform arrays.
in dense, racemiform to spiciform arrays (sometimes strongly to weakly secund, especially if branches reclining, internodes 1–5 mm).
4.5–6 mm;
pappi: lengths ± equaling corollas, bristles plumose.
3–4(–5) mm;
pappi: lengths ± equaling corollas, bristles barbellate.
globose or subglobose.
globose.
Liatris aestivalis
Liatris cokeri
Pyne and Stucky noted that variants of Liatris cokeri (apparently intermediate toward L. virgata) occur on the coastal plain of North Carolina and South Carolina.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
