2b. var. lavendulare (Bates) Ownbey & Aase

Pl. 99 b

Aerial stems 20–60 cm long. Leaves 1–7 mm wide. Bulblets absent. Flower stalks slender or slightly thickened, 3–5 times as long as the perianth at flowering. Fruits usually produced. 2n=14, 28 (2n=28 in Missouri). April–June.

Common in all parts of the state except the Mississippi Lowlands Division (Iowa to Arkansas west to South Dakota and Oklahoma). Glades, bluffs, prairies, and savannas, on both acidic and calcareous substrates; also railroads and rocky roadsides.

Although the type specimen of A. mutabile is the plant here treated as var. mobilense, the var. lavendulare is the common floriferous race referred to by Steyermark (1963) as A. mutabile. It is less weedy than var. canadense and also tends to occur in drier habitats. For notes on the relationship of this taxon to var. mobilense, see the treatment of that variety and the discussion under A. canadense.