Liatris pycnostachya
Liatris pycnostachya var. lasiophylla
cat-tail gayfeather, prairie blazing star, prairie gayfeather, thick-spike blazing star
prairie blazing star
glabrous or densely piloso-puberulent.
moderately to densely piloso-puberulent.
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).
moderately to densely piloso-puberulent to nearly glabrous.
usually 0, rarely (spreading to ascending) 1–2 mm.
campanulate-cylindric, 7–9(–10) × 3.5–5 mm.
(4–)5–8;
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 dense, spiciform arrays.
3.8–4.5(–5) mm;
pappi: lengths ± equaling corollas, bristles barbellate.
globose, sometimes becoming elongate rhizomes.
globose, sometimes becoming elongate rhizomes.
Liatris pycnostachya
Liatris pycnostachya var. lasiophylla
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Variety lasiophylla occurs over most of the range of the species in Louisiana and Texas; var. pycnostachya occurs in the northern counties of those states and, apparently, also sporadically southward through the range of var. lasiophylla, at least in Texas, where it grows in drier habitats than var. lasiophylla. In Louisiana and Texas, var. pycnostachya begins flowering in mid-June and continues through July (through August more northward in its range), usually well before the main flowering period of var. lasiophylla. Despite these indications of reproductive isolation, apparent intermediates are commonly encountered (usually these are plants with dense cauline vestiture but sparsely pubescent to glabrate leaves, compared to the densely piloso-puberulent stems and leaves of typical var. lasiophylla). Most of the plants with reduced vestiture in the range of var. lasiophylla also have the later flowering period.
In Pearl River and Hancock counties, Mississippi, and St. Tammany and Washington parishes, Louisiana, plants with vestiture of var. lasiophylla have phyllaries with rounded to slightly acute apices, different from the rest of the species. These were named Liatris serotina, and it seems likely that they originated as hybrids between var. lasiophylla and L. spicata var. resinosa, whose ranges meet in that area. Some plants of L. spicata in Illinois, Indiana, and Minnesota also develop cauline vestiture; the tendency apparently is evolutionarily independent of that in var. lasiophylla.
(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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