as the pappus, the throat scarcely or slightly perceptible as opposed to the tube; 

 corolla lobes 5, equal, ovate, acute, erect or more or less spreading; stamens 5; 

 filaments uniform, equally inserted in the middle of the corolla tube, glabrous 

 or with tiny outgrowths; anthers short, oblong, about half as long as the fila- 

 ments; style stiff, bifid, exserted late in anthesis, the style branches club-shaped; 

 achenes somewhat cylindrical but pointed basally, about 10-ribbed, pubescent on 

 the ribs and more finely between the ribs; pappus of 12 to 40 bristles, sessile, in 

 one or more series, plumose or barbellate. 

 About 40 species confined to North America. 



1 . Phyllaries acuminate and recurved at the tips, at least in some stage of devel- 

 opment, often ciliate on the margins 1. L. pycnostachya. 



1. Phyllaries obtuse to acuminate, appressed and never recurved, glabrous (2) 



2(1). Each head with about 12 flowers; outer phyllaries punctate except at the 

 edge, deltoid-ovate, purple 2. L. lancifolia. 



2. Each head with 3 to 5 flowers; outer phyllaries few, appressed, not punctate, 



acute, green or only purple-tinged 3. L. acidota. 



1. Liatris pycnostachya Michx. Fig. 744. 



Corm globose or more elongate and resembling a rhizome, often 1 dm. thick in 

 mature plants; stems 1 to many, 6-15 dm. tall, stiff, striate, generally hirsute, 

 sometimes glabrous; leaves numerous, linear, punctate, the lower ones 1 dm. long 

 and 4-5 mm. wide, hirsute or glabrous, gradually decreasing in length upward 

 and passing into bracts subtending the heads; heads with 5 to 1 2 flowers, cylin- 

 drical, about 1 cm. long, sessile, crowded in a very dense spiciform arrangement 

 that is 15-30 cm. long and 2-3 cm. thick with a generally hirsute axis; phyllaries 

 herbaceous or purplish, lanceolate-acuminate or oblong, with more or less acute 

 tips markedly squarrose and scarcely reflexed or merely lax and spreading, the 

 margin mostly ciliate when herbaceous but frequently merely crisped and some- 

 times petaloid; corolla phlox-purple, occasionally white, 7-9 mm. long, the tube 

 nonpilose or with very few hairs within; achenes 4-7 mm. long; pappus 6-7 mm. 

 long, barbellate. 



Frequent in open sandy areas, moist depressions, often in or around moist 

 bogs, in Okla. (Pushmataha Co.) and e. and s.e. Tex., June-Oct.; Ind. to S.D., s. 

 to La. and Tex. 



A local race in the east Texas piney woods with extremely hairy leaves and 

 flowering, on the average, later than the var. pycnostachya is called var. lasiophylla 

 Shinners. 



2. Liatris lancifolia (Greene) Kittell. Gay-feather. 



Glabrous perennial to 6 dm. tall or more; leaves numerous, broadly linear, the 

 basal ones 2-3 dm. long, 10-15 mm. broad near the center (tapering to base and 

 to apex), upper ones shorter and bluntly lanceolate; heads in dense or loose 

 spiciform arrangement 15-30 cm. long, 2-3 cm. thick, each head with about 12 

 flowers; phyllaries erect, glabrous, punctate, the outer deltoid-ovate, the inner 

 oblong and acute, mostly herbaceous, with narrow purplish ciliolate margins; 

 corolla purple, 6 mm. long, glabrous within; achene 3 mm. long or more; pappus 

 barbellate, about 5 mm. long. 



In wet grassland, on banks of spring-fed creeks and open slopes, infrequent 

 in the Tex. Panhandle (Hemphill and Oldham cos.) and N. M. (s. Lincoln, n. 

 Otero and Chaves cos.), June-Aug.; S.D., Neb., Kan., Wyo., N.M. and Tex. 



3. Liatris acidota Engelm. & Gray. 



Corm globose, slightly elongate, usually not more than 3 cm. thick, bearing 

 the remnants of previous basal leaves; stems slender, stiffly erect, 5-8 dm. tall. 



1597 



