COMPOSITE FAMILY COMPOSITAE 
PRAIRIE BLAZING STAR 
Liatris pycnostachya Michx. 
Wai » _ This is perhaps the most handsome and — 
Se Kip in many places the commonest Blazing Star. 
- Aaa! iy, Z It occurs from Indiana to Minnesota and 
De ~ south to Louisiana and Texas. 
NN Wa? The stem is usually hairy near the top but 
‘ ‘ fpilis'.. 7 
BG a, smooth below. It grows 2-5 feet high and has 
a) . VAN y 
WS ZZ 
ys 
SS Na 7 abundant, very narrow leaves, of which even 
SWAT the lowest are usually not more than one- 
INA, J, half inch wide, though they may be 1 foot 
Wt long. The upper are much smaller, linear — 
WN, WL / to awl-shaped and rigid. 
SN Wa The blooming season is August and Sep- ~ 
WZ tember. The spikes are 6-18 inches long and — 
i very dense. There are 3-6 purple flowers in 
hy WY Ye each head. The involucre is oblong or cylin- 
GS-4 drical and its oblong bracts are hairy and 
Ks | have spreading purple tips. The bristles of — 
Wp Yi the pappus are rough but not feathery. . 
j ER The Marsh Blazing Star or Gay Feather, 
344 
| Liatris spicata (L.) Willd., grows in moist — 
places. It has probably been used in medicine 
more than any other Liatris. It is smooth or ~ 
nearly so and grows 2-6 feet high. The lower — 
leaves are narrowly lanceolate, sometimes I 
foot long and about one-half inch broad; the — 
upper are much shorter and very narrow. The ~ 
spike is 4-15 inches long and usually dense. The — 
heads are usually sessile, short oblong or cylin- — 
dric and 5-13-flowered. The oblong bracts of 
the cylindrical bell-shaped involucre have slight — 
margins, are in 4-6 series and are not spreading. ] 
They are sometimes resinous and very smooth, ~ 
The flowers are bluish purple or occasionally 
white and the pappus bristles are rough or ~ 
barbed. The akenes may be covered with downy ~ 
hairs, or smoothish. This species ranges from 
Massachusetts to Minnesota and south to 
Florida, Louisiana and Arkansas. } 
