2 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 



p< •^^•er to cure the bites of the rattlesnake. The generic name 

 Liatris meaning invulnerable, also alludes to this belief. 



'I'here are several members of this family common to the 

 AA'est. When not in bloom most of them so nearly resemble 

 open grassy places and natural meadows of the South and 

 the grasses among which they grow as to pass unseen. Even 

 tiiose whose radical or lower leaves are lanceolate show their 

 relationship to the others by producing grass-like leaves on 

 the stem. Underground also, they are much alike, the stems 

 springing from a hard, dark tuber-like organ, which pro- 

 duces tufts of roots from its lower surface. Gray calls it a 

 corm or tuber and there seems to be no doubt that it is a form 

 of stem though frequently called a root. In the largest speci- 

 mens it may reach the size of one's fist, but the plants begin 

 to bloom when their tubers have become half an inch in diam- 

 eter and thereafter yearly increase both the size of the tuber 

 and the number of flowering stems until the latter sometimes 

 number more than twenty. 



The most showy of the common species are probably Lia- 

 tris spicota and L. pycnostachya. They often produce trusses 

 of flowers two feet or more long. L. spicata has the larger 

 flowers and is further distin-guished by having obtuse scales 

 while in L. pycnostachya they are acute and squarrose. Liatris 

 scariosa, shown in our illustration, has roundish flower-heads 

 the bracts of which are tinged with purple. While still in bud 

 it is quite as fine as many other flowers when in bloom. L. 

 sqiiarrosa has a general resemblance to this species, but it is 

 not as tall and the involucral scales are pointed and spreading. It 

 also extends farther east than any of the others, reaching the 

 Atlantic coast in some places. These two species are the ones 

 usually called blazing stars and L. scariosa is also called gay 

 feather and button snake-root. It is one of the tallest of the 

 genus, often reaching six feet in height. A fifth species L. 

 cylindracca is not so conspicuous as the others. Its flower- 



