8. Liatris squarrosa (L.) Michx.
Pl. 268 e, f;
Map 1128
Rootstock a more
or less globose corm. Stems 20–75 cm long, glabrous or moderately hairy. Basal
and adjacent lower stem leaves sessile to short-petiolate, the blades 7–20 cm
long, 2–12 mm wide, linear to narrowly lanceolate or narrowly oblanceolate, the
margins usually light, hard, and thickened, sometimes also sparsely hairy,
flat, the surfaces glabrous or sparsely to moderately pubescent with spreading,
curly hairs, green, with 3–5 main veins, grading toward the stem tip to shorter
leaves, these mostly sessile, 3–15 cm long, linear. Inflorescences relatively
short to more elongate spicate racemes (rarely reduced to a single terminal
head), the heads loosely spaced (the axis easily visible between heads),
sessile or with stalks 1–10 mm long, these with usually 1 basal bract. Heads
with 15–45(–60) disc florets, the terminal head usually slightly larger than
the others. Involucre 11–25 mm long, narrowly cup-shaped to cup-shaped, with 5–7
weakly unequal, overlapping series of bracts (the outer series usually
appearing noticeably longer than the other series, especially on the terminal
head). Involucral bracts broadly ovate to oblong-lanceolate, long-tapered to a
sharply pointed, abruptly spreading to recurved tip, usually with narrow,
slightly thickened, pale margins, these sometimes slightly to strongly
purplish-tinged, entire but with relatively dense, spreading hairs (the surface
sometimes also sparsely to moderately hairy), the main body appearing flat
below the tip. Corollas 12–14 mm long, the lobes with often dense, short, stiff
hairs on the inner (upper) surface. Pappus bristles plumose. Fruits 4–6 mm
long. 2n=20. July–September.
Scattered nearly
throughout the state, but absent from most of the western half of the Glaciated
Plains Division (eastern U.S. west to South Dakota, Colorado, and Texas).
Glades, ledges and tops of bluffs, openings of dry upland forests, savannas,
and upland prairies; also pastures, fencerows, railroads, and roadsides.
For discussion
of putative hybrids with L. cylindracea, see the treatment of that
species. In Missouri, there is some morphological overlap between the three
varieties, which are reasonably distinct elsewhere in their ranges.