Liatris tenuifolia
Liatris compacta
pine-needle gayfeather, shortleaf blazing star, shortleaf gayfeather
Arkansas gayfeather, scaly blazing star
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 3–5-nerved (parallel veins evident, not persistent), elliptic-lanceolate, 80–150(–180) × 3–10(–12) mm (largest toward midstem), gradually or slightly reduced distally, glabrous, weakly gland-dotted.
(ascending) 1–7 mm.
3–25 mm (each head subtended by broad, foliaceous bracts longer than involucres).
turbinate-campanulate, 5–7 × 4–5 mm.
cylindro-campanulate, 12–17 × 8–14 mm.
4–6;
corolla tubes glabrous inside.
18–25;
corolla tubes glabrous inside (lobes adaxially hispid).
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.
(loose to spreading) in 5–7 series, narrowly lanceolate (outer, usually longer than inner, foliaceous) to broadly oblong or narrowly oblong-lanceolate, usually glabrous, sometimes sparsely puberulent, margins without hyaline borders, apices acuminate to acute or cuspidate.
in compact, racemiform arrays.
borne singly or (2–5) in loose, racemiform to spiciform arrays.
2.5–4 mm;
pappi: lengths ± equaling corollas, bristles barbellate.
5.5–8 mm;
pappi: lengths ± equaling corollas, bristles plumose.
globose.
globose to subglobose.
Liatris tenuifolia
Liatris compacta
Liatris compacta is known from west-central Arkansas. It has been treated as a variety of L. squarrosa, to which it appears closely related (especially var. glabrata). In addition to morphologic differences, L. compacta is distinct in habitat and is geographically disjunct from its closest relatives (L. squarrosa vars. glabrata and squarrosa); it is sympatric with L. hirsuta, which apparently is separated by habitat. The bracts subtending the heads are foliaceous; the outermost phyllaries of L. squarrosa are relatively elongate and usually phyllary-like, not nearly so large as in L. compacta.
Liatris compacta, L. squarrosa, L. hirsuta, and L. cylindracea are closely similar and interrelated: the basal leaves are on relatively widely spaced nodes, usually wither before flowering, and lengthen distally into the more crowded (shorter internodes) cauline leaves. At least the basal and proximal cauline leaves are basally sheathing and strongly parallel-veined. All species of this group also have at least a tendency for cylindric involucres, and corolla lobes of all are densely hirsute on the adaxial faces. Intermediates and intergrades among L. squarrosa, L. hirsuta, and L. cylindracea are relatively common in areas of sympatry; identifications are correspondingly arbitrary.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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