Liatris pycnostachya
Liatris ohlingerae
cat-tail gayfeather, prairie blazing star, prairie gayfeather, thick-spike blazing star
Florida blazing star, Florida gayfeather, sandtorch, scrub blazing star
glabrous or densely piloso-puberulent.
minutely and closely villous-puberulent, glabrescent.
basal and proximal cauline 3–5-nerved, linear to narrowly oblanceolate or oblanceolate, 110–220 × 4–10(–12) mm, gradually then abruptly reduced distally (bractlike proximal to heads), essentially glabrous or sparsely pilose to densely piloso-puberulent, weakly gland-dotted (bases of basal usually fibrous-persistent).
basal and proximal cauline (usually withering before anthesis) 1-nerved, linear, 80–150 × 1–2(–2.5) mm, gradually reduced distally, essentially glabrous or sparsely puberulent and soon glabrescent, gland-dotted.
usually 0, rarely (spreading to ascending) 1–2 mm.
(spreading-ascending) 20–70 mm.
campanulate-cylindric, 7–9(–10) × 3.5–5 mm.
hemispheric to campanulate or broadly turbinate, 17–23 × 15–20 mm.
(4–)5–8;
corolla tubes glabrous inside.
± 20–30;
corolla tubes glabrous inside.
(reflexed or curving-spreading) in 4–5 series, oblong-lanceolate, unequal, essentially glabrous or ± pilose, margins with hyaline borders, sometimes ciliate, apices usually acute to acute-acuminate (sometimes distally dilated, nearly petaloid).
in 6–7 series, oblong, strongly unequal, essentially glabrous, margins with (faintly purplish) hyaline borders, ciliolate, apices rounded to obtuse.
in dense, spiciform arrays.
(1–30) in open, corymbiform to racemiform arrays.
3.8–4.5(–5) mm;
pappi: lengths ± equaling corollas, bristles barbellate.
7–10 mm;
pappi: lengths ± equaling corollas, bristles barbellate to subplumose.
globose, sometimes becoming elongate rhizomes.
nearly cylindric.
Liatris pycnostachya
Liatris ohlingerae
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Liatris ohlingerae grows in DeSoto, Highlands, and Polk counties, on Lake Wales Ridge. It is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Corms globose; stems usually glabrous or sparsely pilose except near heads (where sparsely piloso-puberulent); leaves glabrous | var. pycnostachya |
1. Corms globose to elongate; stems moderately to densely piloso-puberulent; leaves moderately to densely piloso-puberulent to nearly glabrous | var. lasiophylla |
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