Flora of North America species comparison

Varieties mucronata and punctata intergrade where their ranges meet in central Texas (G. L. Nesom and R. J. O’Kennon 2001). Plants currently identified as Liatris punctata or L. mucronata in northern Arkansas, southern Missouri, and adjacent Kansas appear to represent an undescribed race, perhaps most closely related to L. aestivalis.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Gaiser distinguished var. punctata (type from Saskatchewan) from var. nebraskana by its thicker, often shorter stems, broader and shorter leaves, leaves and phyllaries with ciliate margins, and phyllaries with lanceolate-acuminate apices. Weak geographic trends exist in these features; variability renders var. nebraskana largely typological and necessitates much arbitrary identification. B. R. Menhusen (1963) also did not find justification for recognizing var. nebraskana. Variation in chromosome number may be associated with some of the apparent polymorphism.

Liatris densispicata was described from sand dunes in Minnesota. It was said to have “an elongate rootstock that runs horizontally in the sand, giving off clusters of aerial stems,” and to differ from L. punctata by “the generally finer and more slender structure of the stem, spike, and leaves” (L. O. Gaiser 1946, p. 363). It was listed as a synonym of L. punctata by G. B. Ownbey and T. Morley (1991).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)