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Liatris pilosa - (image 1 of 5)

Taxonomy

Family: Asteraceae

Synonymous with L. graminifolia Willd.

Habitat

Dry open woods, pine barrens, usually in sandy soil.

Associates

Distribution

NJ and southern PA south to GA, northwest FL, and AL, mainly on the coastal plain and piedmont, occasionally extending into the mountains.

Morphology

Herbaceous perennial from a corm-like rootstock; stems 20-120 cm, hairy or subglabrous; leaves numerous, strongly or only slightly punctate, all linear or nearly so, the lowest ones to 30 cm long and mostly 2-7 mm wide, margins irregularly ciliate toward the base; heads 10-many in an elongate, spiciform or rarely branched inflorescence, suberect or short, closely ascending peduncles, or subsessile, rarely turned away from the axis; involucres turbinate or subcylidric, 7-12 mm; involucral bracts thin, scarcely to sometimes evidently punctate, ciliolate on the scarious margins, mostly broadly rounded and often purplish towards the apex; flowers mostly (6)7-14 per head, the corolla hairy toward the base within; pappus barbellate.

Notes

Flowers September to October

Wetland indicator: NA

Another common name for this species is grass-leaved blazing star.

  References

Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY.

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