Liatris cokeri
Liatris virgata
Coker's gayfeather, sandhill's blazing star, Sandhills gayfeather
dense blazing star, grassleaf gayfeather, King's Mountain or Piedmont gayfeather, wand blazing star
glabrous.
glabrous.
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).
basal and proximal cauline 1-nerved, narrowly oblanceolate, (50–)90–150 × (2–)4–9(–12) mm wide, usually abruptly, sometimes gradually, reduced distally, glabrous or sparsely pilose (abaxially), gland-dotted (proximal margins sparsely pilose-ciliate).
0 or (ascending) 1–6(–10) mm.
0 or (ascending) mostly 2–12 mm.
cylindro-turbinate, (7–)8–9 × 3.5–4 mm.
campanulate-cylindric, (6–)7–9 × 3.5–4.5(–5) mm.
4–7(–9);
corolla tubes pilose inside.
7–10(–12);
corolla tubes pilose inside.
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.
usually in 3–5(–6) series, in 5–6(–7) series in largest heads, ovate-triangular to oblong, unequal, glabrous, margins with narrow, hyaline borders (lacking at apices), sometimes sparsely ciliolate, apices acute to obtuse-angled (with thickened, not markedly involute, apicula).
in dense, racemiform to spiciform arrays (sometimes strongly to weakly secund, especially if branches reclining, internodes 1–5 mm).
in loose, racemiform to spiciform arrays (not secund, internodes 6–20 mm).
3–4(–5) mm;
pappi: lengths ± equaling corollas, bristles barbellate.
(2–)3–4 mm;
pappi: lengths ± equaling corollas, bristles barbellate.
globose.
mostly globose.
= 20.
Liatris cokeri
Liatris virgata
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.)
Liatris virgata is characterized by its non-congested arrangement of heads, often on a slightly zigzag axis, and especially by its relatively thickened phyllaries with angled apices (acute to obtuse-apiculate). The name Liatris regimontis has been misapplied to the species now identified as L. cokeri.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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