Liatris hirsuta
Liatris aspera
hairy gayfeather, scaly blazing star
rough blazing star, rough gayfeather, tall blazing star
hirsute to piloso-hirsute.
hispidulous-puberulent.
basal and proximal cauline 3–5-nerved, linear-lanceolate, 60–180 × 2–7 mm (largest usually distal to proximalmost), gradually reduced distally, hirsute to piloso-hirsute.
basal (usually withering before flowering) and proximal cauline 1-nerved, broadly oblanceolate to elliptic- or lanceolate-spatulate to linear-lanceolate, 80–250 × (4–)6–25 mm, gradually or abruptly reduced distally, essentially glabrous or sparsely or densely puberulent-hispidulous, ± gland-dotted (distal especially).
0 or (peduncles spreading to ascending) 1–10 mm.
0 or (ascending to spreading or deflexed) 1–5(–10) mm.
cylindro-campanulate, 11–17 × 6–9 mm.
campanulate-hemispheric to turbinate-campanulate, (9–)10–16 × 10–20 mm.
15–30;
corolla tubes glabrous inside (lobes adaxially hispid).
(14–)18–24(–30);
corolla tubes pilose inside.
(spreading to reflexed) in 5–7 series, ovate-triangular (outer) to oblong-triangular, unequal, usually sparsely hirsute, margins without hyaline borders, coarsely hirsute-ciliate, apices acute-acuminate.
usually in 4–5 series, (outer or outer and middle usually reflexed) broadly obovate to oblong-spatulate, unequal, essentially glabrous, margins with relatively broad, whitish-hyaline, irregular to erose or lacerate borders (especially on the distal 1/3), strongly bullate (with a sharp, low, rounded buttress delimiting the hyaline border), apices usually rounded to subtruncate.
in loose, racemiform to spiciform arrays.
in loose, spiciform arrays.
5.5–6.5 mm;
pappi: lengths ± equaling corollas, bristles plumose.
(3.5–)4.5–6 mm;
pappi: lengths ± equaling corollas, bristles barbellate.
globose to slightly elongate.
globose.
= 20.
Liatris hirsuta
Liatris aspera
Liatris hirsuta occupies a geographic range separate from and nearly contiguous with L. squarrosa. They have been treated as a single species. Liatris hirsuta is sympatric (without intergrades) with L. squarrosa var. squarrosa in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Mississippi; it is sympatric with L. compacta in Arkansas; it intergrades with L. cylindracea in Missouri. See also discussion under 1. L. compacta.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Plants of Liatris aspera from the Dakotas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, and Kansas have consistently sparsely to densely puberulent-hispidulous leaves (var. aspera); those to the east usually have glabrous leaves (var. intermedia); variation in vestiture occurs in Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana and identities in this large area would have to be arbitrary or typological if varieties were formally recognized. Variety salutans was recognized by Shinners on the basis of its deflexed (versus horizontal or ascending) heads; such plants occur in Texas, western Louisiana, and adjacent areas of Arkansas and Oklahoma.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
KS Wildflowers
LA Plants
MO Plants
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
IL Wildflowers
MI Flora
MN Wildflowers
