Liatris ligulistylis

Native

Moderate moisture to moist. Prairies, wood openings, meadows, lake shores, streambanks, roadsides, ditches. Full sun.

August to September

Pink

8″ to 40″

This is an erect, 8″ to 40″ tall, perennial forb that rises from a large, almost globe-shaped corm.

The stems are erect and unbranched. They are sparsely to densely covered with short, soft, curled hairs.

Basal leaves are narrowly inversely lance-shaped to spatula lance-shaped, 3½″ to 6″ long, and ⅛″ to ⅝″ wide. They are on long leaf stalks. They have 1 main vein. The margins are untoothed.

Lower and middle stem leaves are similar, alternate, becoming gradually smaller and on shorter leaf stalks as they ascend the stem. There are 8 to 100 stem leaves below the inflorescence. Above the middle the leaves become abruptly smaller. Upper stem leaves are similar to middle stem leaves but are linear or narrowly lance-shaped, ascending to nearly erect, and bract-like. They become stalkless and gradually smaller as they ascend the stem.

The inflorescence is an unbranched, elongated, spike-like cluster (raceme) of flower heads at the end of the stem. The raceme may have 1 to 21 flower heads, but usually has 3 to 10. The heads are loosely spaced and the axis of the inflorescence is visible between the heads. They are on ascending, 5 ⁄16″ to 13 ⁄16″ long stalks.

The flower heads are about 1″ wide. The terminal head is often larger than the others and matures first. The whorl of bracts at the base of the flower head (involucre) is broadly bell-shaped to hemispherical, ⅜″ to ⅝″ long, and ½″ to 11 ⁄16″ in diameter. The bracts making up the involucre are in 4 or 5 overlapping series. They are broadly inversely egg-shaped to oblong spatula-shaped. The lower (outer) and middle series are spreading or bent backward. They have rounded, blistery projections on the back, making them appear inflated. They have broad, thin, purple to transparent margins. The margins are strongly bent upwards and appear irregularly torn.

The flower head has 30 to 70 pink, tubular disk florets and no ray florets. Each disk floret is separated at the tip into 5 spreading lobes. There are 5 stamens concealed within the corolla tube and a long, white to pink, forked style that protrudes well beyond the tip of the corolla tube. There is no fragrance.

The fruit is an achene with hair-like bristles attached. The bristles are barbed, though this may be difficult to see without a hand lens.

Rough blazing star (Liatris aspera) flower heads are on shorter stalks.