Genus 8. THISTLE FAMILY. 365 
tube slender, its limb 5-lobed or 5-cleft. Anthers obtuse at the base. Style-branches elon- 
gated, obtuse or flattened at the apex. Achenes io-ribbed, slender, tapering to the base. 
Pappus of 1 or 2 series of slender barbellate or plumose bristles. [Latin, fringed, from the 
appearance of the heads.] 
About 35 species, natives of eastern and central North America, known as Blazing Star, or 
Button Snakeroot from the globular tubers. Type species: Serratula squarrosa L, 
* Bracts of the involucre acute, acuminate or mucronate. 
Involucre cylindric, or turbinate, 15—-60-flowered, its base rounded. 
Bracts with lanceolate spreading rigid tips. 1. L. squarrosa. 
Bracts mucronate, closely appressed. 2. L. cylindrica. 
Involucre oblong, or narrowly campanulate, 3-6-flowered. 
Inner bracts with prolonged petaloid tips. 3. L. elegans. 
Bracts all acute, mucronate or acuminate. 
Bracts appressed ; pappus-bristles very plumose. 
Leaves 1”-2” wide; spike usually leafy below. 4. L. punctata, 
Leaves less than 1” wide; spike mostly naked. 5. L. acidota. 
Tips of the bracts spreading ; pappus-bristles barbellate. 6. L. pycnostachya. 
** Bracts of the involucre rounded, obtuse or acutish. 
Involucre hemispheric, %’—1’ broad, 15—45-flowered ; heads peduncled. 7. L. scariosa. 
Involucre oblong, 2”-4” broad, 5—15-flowered. 
Bracts obtuse, rounded. 
Involucre rounded at base; bracts usually not punctate ; heads mostly sessile. 
8. L. spicata. 
Involucre narrowed at base; bracts usually punctate; heads peduncled. 
Leaves, even the lower, narrowly linear; involucre narrowly obovoid, 5”—6” high. 
9. L. graminifolia. 
Lower leaves linear-oblong; involucre broadly obovoid, 6”-7” high. 10, L. pilosa. 
Bracts acutish, punctate. 1. L. Smallii. 
1. Lacinaria squarroésa (L.) Hill. Scaly 
Blazing Star. Colic-root. Fig. 4177. 
Serratula squarrosa L. Sp. Pl. 818. 1753. 
Lacinaria squarrosa Hill, Hort. Kew. 70. 1769. 
Liatris squarrosa Willd. Sp. Pl. 3: 1634. 1804. 
Liatris intermedia Lindl. Bot. Reg. pl. 948. 1825. 
Lacinaria squarrosa intermedia Porter, Mem. Torr. Club 
5: 314. 1894. 
Liatris squarrosa var. intermedia DC. Prodr. 5: 129. 
1836. 
Usually stout, 4°-2° high, pubescent or glabrous. 
Leaves narrowly linear, rigid, sparingly punctate, 
3’-6’ long, 1-23” wide; heads sessile or short-pedun- 
cled, 15-60-flowered, usually few, or sometimes solli- 
tary. 3’-13’ long, 4-8” thick; bracts of the involucre 
imbricated in 5-7 series, lanceolate, rigid, acuminate, 
glabrous or pubescent, their tips more or less spread- 
ing when old; flowers purple; pappus very plumose. 
In dry soil, western Ontario to Pennsylvania, Virginia, 
Florida, South Dakota, Nebraska and Texas. Called also 
rattlesnake-master. Races differ in pubescence and in 
2. Lacinaria cylindracea (Michx.) 
Kuntze. Cylindric Blazing Star. 
Fig. 4178. 
Liatris cylindracea Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 93. 
1803. 
Liatris graminifolia Willd. Sp. Pl. 3: 1636. 1804. 
Lacinaria cylindracea Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 349. 
1891. 
Glabrous or nearly so, stout, 1°-13° high, 
sometimes branched above. Leaves narrowly 
linear, rigid, scarcely punctate, 3’-7’ long, 1”~2” 
wide; heads several or numerous (rarely soli- 
tary), peduncled, or the lower sessile, turbi- 
nate-cylindric, #’-1’ high, 4”-6” thick, 15-60- 
flowered; bracts of the involucre imbricated in 
5 or 6 series, broadly oval, appressed, abruptly 
acuminate at the apex; flowers purple; pappus 
very plumose. 
In dry soil, western Ontario to Minnesota, south 
to Illinois and Missouri. July-Sept. 
