Liatris tenuifolia
Liatris cokeri
pine-needle gayfeather, shortleaf blazing star, shortleaf gayfeather
Coker's gayfeather, sandhill's blazing star, Sandhills gayfeather
glabrous or sparsely pilose.
glabrous.
basal and proximal cauline (arising from separated nodes) 1-nerved, linear to linear-lanceolate, 100–300 × 1–2(–2.5) mm, gradually or abruptly reduced distally, essentially glabrous, gland-dotted (proximal margins sometimes ciliate).
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).
(ascending) 1–7 mm.
0 or (ascending) 1–6(–10) mm.
turbinate-campanulate, 5–7 × 4–5 mm.
cylindro-turbinate, (7–)8–9 × 3.5–4 mm.
4–6;
corolla tubes glabrous inside.
4–7(–9);
corolla tubes pilose inside.
in 2–3(–4) series, lanceolate to oblong or elliptic-oblong, unequal, essentially glabrous, margins with (pinkish purple) hyaline borders, apices usually rounded-retuse and minutely involute-cuspidate to apiculate.
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.
in compact, racemiform arrays.
in dense, racemiform to spiciform arrays (sometimes strongly to weakly secund, especially if branches reclining, internodes 1–5 mm).
2.5–4 mm;
pappi: lengths ± equaling corollas, bristles barbellate.
3–4(–5) mm;
pappi: lengths ± equaling corollas, bristles barbellate.
globose.
globose.
Liatris tenuifolia
Liatris cokeri
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.)
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
