Liatris tenuifolia |
Liatris spicata |
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pine-needle gayfeather, shortleaf blazing star, shortleaf gayfeather |
dense blazing star, florist gayfeather, marsh gayfeather, prairie gay feather, sessile-head blazing star |
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Habit | Plants 40–150 cm. | Plants (20–)40–110(–180) cm. | ||||
Stems | glabrous or sparsely pilose. |
glabrous. |
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Leaves | 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 lower cauline 3–5-nerved, narrowly oblong-lanceolate to narrowly spatulate-oblanceolate, 120–350 × (2–)4–10(–20) mm (sometimes becoming more densely arranged distally), usually gradually reduced distally, essentially glabrous or sparsely villous, weakly gland-dotted (glandular hairs often not evident, bases of basal often fibrous-persistent). |
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Peduncles | (ascending) 1–7 mm. |
usually 0, rarely 1–2 mm. |
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Involucres | turbinate-campanulate, 5–7 × 4–5 mm. |
turbinate-cylindric to turbinate-campanulate, 7–11 × 4–6 mm. |
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Florets | 4–6; corolla tubes glabrous inside. |
(4–)5–8(–14); corolla tubes glabrous inside. |
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Phyllaries | 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–)4–5 series, ovate to oblong, unequal, essentially glabrous, margins with hyaline borders, sometimes ciliolate, apices rounded to obtuse. |
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Heads | in compact, racemiform arrays. |
in dense to loose, spiciform arrays. |
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Cypselae | 2.5–4 mm; pappi: lengths ± equaling corollas, bristles barbellate. |
(3.5–)4.5–6 mm; pappi: lengths ± equaling corollas, bristles barbellate. |
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Corms | globose. |
globose to slightly elongate. |
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Liatris tenuifolia |
Liatris spicata |
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Phenology | Flowering Aug–Nov. | |||||
Habitat | Longleaf pine savannas, longleaf pine-scrub oak, turkey oak-bluejack oak, slash pine-sand pine-scrub, sand pine-scrub, sand ridges, hills, and flats, roadsides | |||||
Elevation | 10–100 m (0–300 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
AL; FL; GA; SC
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AL; AR; CT; DE; FL; GA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MA; MD; MI; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NY; OH; PA; SC; TN; VA; WI; WV; ON; QC
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Discussion | Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). Liatris spicata is sold as cut flowers. It also is commonly sold as a garden plant in various genetic permutations (probably derived from var. spicata, perhaps from L. lancifolia) and it apparently escapes cultivation. Reports from Arkansas, Connecticut, and Quebec probably reflect plants growing in or escaped from gardens. A geographic disjunction within Liatris spicata occurs between the coastal plain element (var. resinosa) and the inland/montane element (var. spicata), although plants morphologically referable to var. resinosa occasionally are encountered in montane North Carolina and Tennessee and var. spicata-like plants occur in the range of var. resinosa. Apparent intergrades between the two taxa are common, especially in Tennessee and Alabama. The geographical gap is widest in Georgia and Alabama. Neither variety occurs naturally west of the Mississippi River, except for a historical record of var. spicata in Oregon County, Missouri (Kellogg s.n., MO), where the population has now been genetically “swamped” by L. pycnostachya (G. A. Yatskievych, pers. comm.). In both var. spicata and var. resinosa, marked variation (dimorphism) in head size occurs, the large-headed plants apparently occurring in scattered geographic enclaves without a broader geographic pattern. It seems possible that independent populational origins of polyploidy might underlie the variation. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 21, p. 526. | FNA vol. 21, p. 523. | ||||
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Eupatorieae > Liatris | Asteraceae > tribe Eupatorieae > Liatris | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Lacinaria tenuifolia | Serratula spicata, Lacinaria spicata | ||||
Name authority | Nuttall: Gen. N. Amer. Pl. 2: 131. (1818) | (Linnaeus) Willdenow: Sp. Pl. 3: 1636. (1803) | ||||
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