OF THE CAROLINAS & GEORGIA

Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Campanulids: Asterales

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Liatris spicata   FAMILY Asteraceae__   Go to FSUS key



SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Liatris spicata var. spicata   FAMILY Asteraceae__

INCLUDED WITHIN Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)

Liatris spicata var. spicata

SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 19-20-21 (2006)

Liatris spicata var. spicata

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)

Liatris spicata var. spicata

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 179-30-001a:

Liatris spicata var. spicata   FAMILY Asteraceae__

INCLUDED WITHIN Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)

Laciniaria spicata

 

COMMON NAME:
Dense Blazing-star, Mountain Blazing-star, Florist's Gayfeather, Dense Gayfeather


         To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.

image of Liatris spicata, Dense Blazing-star, Mountain Blazing-star, Florist's Gayfeather, Dense Gayfeather

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913    pnd_lasp5_001_lvd

        

image of Liatris spicata, Dense Blazing-star, Mountain Blazing-star, Florist's Gayfeather, Dense Gayfeather

JK Marlow    jkm160430_614

April    Greenville County    SC

Ashmore Heritage Preserve

image of Liatris spicata, Dense Blazing-star, Mountain Blazing-star, Florist's Gayfeather, Dense Gayfeather

JK Marlow    jkm220412_6783

April    Greenville County    SC

Bald Rock Heritage Preserve

image of Liatris spicata, Dense Blazing-star, Mountain Blazing-star, Florist's Gayfeather, Dense Gayfeather

JK Marlow    jkm220412_6785

April    Greenville County    SC

Bald Rock Heritage Preserve

image of Liatris spicata, Dense Blazing-star, Mountain Blazing-star, Florist's Gayfeather, Dense Gayfeather

JK Marlow    jkm110522_612

May    Greenville County    SC

Ashmore Heritage Preserve

image of Liatris spicata, Dense Blazing-star, Mountain Blazing-star, Florist's Gayfeather, Dense Gayfeather

JK Marlow    jkm120506_589

May    Oconee County    SC

Leaves narrowly linear, about 16" long at the plant's base, shorter upwards, per Atlantic Coastal Plain Wildflowers (Nelson, 2006).

image of Liatris spicata, Dense Blazing-star, Mountain Blazing-star, Florist's Gayfeather, Dense Gayfeather

JK Marlow    jkm120623_227b

June    Greenville County    SC

Ashmore Heritage Preserve

Flower heads in a spiciform arrangement; (4)6-8(12) florets per head, per Weakley's Flora.

image of Liatris spicata, Dense Blazing-star, Mountain Blazing-star, Florist's Gayfeather, Dense Gayfeather

JK Marlow    jkm0507l_22

July    Oconee County    SC

image of Liatris spicata, Dense Blazing-star, Mountain Blazing-star, Florist's Gayfeather, Dense Gayfeather

JK Marlow    jkm070703_049

July    Summers County    WV

Sandstone Visitors Center

image of Liatris spicata, Dense Blazing-star, Mountain Blazing-star, Florist's Gayfeather, Dense Gayfeather

Richard and Teresa Ware    rtw_l_spicata

July        

image of Liatris spicata, Dense Blazing-star, Mountain Blazing-star, Florist's Gayfeather, Dense Gayfeather

Steve Marlow    snm070703d101_024

July    Summers County    WV

Sandstone Visitors Center

Unlike many plants, Liatris flowers downward from the top [determinate], per Book of Field and Roadside (Eastman, 2003).

image of Liatris spicata, Dense Blazing-star, Mountain Blazing-star, Florist's Gayfeather, Dense Gayfeather

JK Marlow    jkm0408j_18

August    Oconee County    SC

Chief pollinators are long-tongued insects, per Book of Field and Roadside (Eastman, 2003).

image of Liatris spicata, Dense Blazing-star, Mountain Blazing-star, Florist's Gayfeather, Dense Gayfeather

JK Marlow    jkm0408k_12

August    Oconee County    SC

Narrow, leafy, typically unbranched stems may reach heights of 6' or more, per Atlantic Coastal Plain Wildflowers (Nelson, 2006).

image of Liatris spicata, Dense Blazing-star, Mountain Blazing-star, Florist's Gayfeather, Dense Gayfeather

JK Marlow    jkm220809_9529

August    Greenville County    SC

Bald Rock Heritage Preserve

image of Liatris spicata, Dense Blazing-star, Mountain Blazing-star, Florist's Gayfeather, Dense Gayfeather

Richard and Teresa Ware    rtw_liatris_spicata_7

September        

image of Liatris spicata, Dense Blazing-star, Mountain Blazing-star, Florist's Gayfeather, Dense Gayfeather

JK Marlow    jkm0410p_16

October    Oconee County    SC

image of Liatris spicata, Dense Blazing-star, Mountain Blazing-star, Florist's Gayfeather, Dense Gayfeather

JK Marlow    jkm221004_0124

October    Greenville County    SC

Bald Rock Heritage Preserve

Stems glabrous or puberulent (not glandular), per Weakley's Flora (2022).

image of Liatris spicata, Dense Blazing-star, Mountain Blazing-star, Florist's Gayfeather, Dense Gayfeather

JK Marlow    jkm221004_0126

October    Greenville County    SC

Bald Rock Heritage Preserve

Phyllary apices obtuse to rounded. Involucres (7-)8-11mm, usually greenish, per Weakley's Flora (2022).

image of Liatris spicata, Dense Blazing-star, Mountain Blazing-star, Florist's Gayfeather, Dense Gayfeather

JK Marlow    jkm221004_0132

October    Greenville County    SC

Bald Rock Heritage Preserve

Leaves 3-5-veined. Basal and lower cauline leaves 4-10(-20)mm wide, per Weakley's Flora (2022).

image of Liatris spicata, Dense Blazing-star, Mountain Blazing-star, Florist's Gayfeather, Dense Gayfeather

JK Marlow    jkm221007_1364

October    Greenville County    SC

Bald Rock Heritage Preserve

image of Liatris spicata, Dense Blazing-star, Mountain Blazing-star, Florist's Gayfeather, Dense Gayfeather

JK Marlow    jkm231024_6187

October    Oconee County    SC

Phyllaries ovate to oblong, unequal, margins with hyaline borders, sometimes ciliolate, per Flora of North America.

 

 

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Liatris spicata   FAMILY Asteraceae__

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Liatris spicata var. spicata   FAMILY Asteraceae__

INCLUDED WITHIN Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Liatris spicata var. spicata

SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 19-20-21
Liatris spicata var. spicata

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Liatris spicata var. spicata

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 179-30-001a:
Liatris spicata var. spicata   FAMILY Asteraceae__

INCLUDED WITHIN Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Laciniaria spicata

 

Find by SCIENTIFIC NAME:

825

Forb
Perennial

Habitat: Prairies (calcareous), roadsides, seepages, bogs, grassy balds, per Weakley's Flora

Native to the Carolinas & Georgia

Common (uncommon in SC)

map
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.

LEAVES:
Simple
Alternate & basal

FLOWER:
Summer/Fall
Disc: Purplish-blue
Rays: Absent
Inferior ovary
Bisexual

FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Blackish
Achene

 

TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!



 


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