|
Photographer: Paul Drobot
|
Family Asteraceae
Liatris spicata (L.) Willd.
dense gay-feather, marsh blazing-star, marsh gay-feather, sessile blazing-star, sessile-headed blazing-star
Liatris: meaning lost in antiquity
spicata: spiked
|
|
| Status: | Special Concern |
| Plant: | erect, perennial, 2'- 6 1/2' tall forb; leafy stems usually smooth |
| Flower: | head 1/2" wide with 6-10 pink disk flowers, bracts (phyllaries) rounded with spreading tips; inflorescence with many stalkless heads in dense spikes; blooms Aug.-Sept. |
| Fruit: | dry seed on fluffy pappus |
| Leaf: | alternate, linear, up to 3/4" wide |
| Habitat: | full sun; moderate moisture to moist; prairies, meadows; in sandy, loamy soil |
| (Glossary) |
|