COMPOSITE FAMILY 



COMPOSITAE 



PRAIRIE BLAZING STAR 



Liatris pycnostachya Michx. 



This is perhaps the most handsome and 

 in many places the commonest Blazing Star. 

 It occurs from Indiana to Minnesota and 

 south to Louisiana and Texas. 



The stem is usually hairy near the top but 

 smooth below. It grows 2-5 feet high and has 

 abundant, very narrow leaves, of which even 

 the lowest are usually not more than one- 

 half inch wide, though they may be i foot 

 long. The upper are much smaller, linear 

 to awl-shaped and rigid. 



The blooming season is August and Sep- 

 tember. The spikes are 6-18 inches long and 

 very dense. There are 3-6 purple flowers in. 

 each head. The involucre is oblong or cylin- 

 drical and its oblong bracts are hairy and 

 have spreading purple tips. The bristles of 

 the pappus are rough but not feathery. 



The Marsh Blazing Star or Gay Feather, 

 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-halt 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 riowers 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. 



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