Plants 20-70 cm. Corms globose to slightly elongate. Stems hirsute to piloso-hirsute. Leaves: basal and proximal cauline 3-5-nerved, linear-lanceolate, 60-180 × 2-7 mm (largest usually distal to proximalmost), gradually reduced distally, hirsute to piloso-hirsute. Heads in loose, racemiform to spiciform arrays. Peduncles 0 or (peduncles spreading to ascending) 1-10 mm. Involucres cylindro-campanulate, 11-17 × 6-9 mm. Phyllaries (spreading to reflexed) in 5-7 series, ovate-triangular (outer) to oblong-triangular, unequal, usually sparsely hirsute, margins without hyaline borders, coarsely hirsute-ciliate, apices acute-acuminate. Florets 15-30; corolla tubes glabrous inside (lobes adaxially hispid). Cypselae 5.5-6.5 mm; pappi: lengths ± equaling corollas, bristles plumose.

Flowering (Jun-)Jul-Aug(-Sep). Prairies, rocky slopes, flats, marl ridges, pine-oak woods, streamsides, roadsides; 50-500(-900) m; Ark., Iowa, Kans., La., Miss., Mo., Nebr., Okla., Tex.

Liatris hirsuta occupies a geographic range separate from and nearly contiguous with L. squarrosa. They have been treated as a single species. Liatris hirsuta is sympatric (without intergrades) with L. squarrosa var. squarrosa in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Mississippi; it is sympatric with L. compacta in Arkansas; it intergrades with L. cylindracea in Missouri. See also discussion under 1. L. compacta.