Liatris microcephala

Plants 30-80 cm. Corms globose (fibrous roots often densely covering whole structure). Stems glabrous. Leaves: basal and proximal cauline 1-nerved, linear to linear-lanceolate, 80-200 × 1-3(-4, -6) mm, gradually reduced or abruptly reduced on distal ¹/2 of stems, essentially glabrous. Heads in loose to dense, spiciform arrays (internodes to 8 mm). Peduncles 0 or (ascending) 1-12 mm. Involucres turbinate-cylindric, 5-7(-9) × 3-4 mm. Phyllaries in 3-4 series, oblong to oblong-obovate, strongly unequal, essentially glabrous, margins with hyaline borders, apices rounded. Florets 4-5(-6); corolla tubes glabrous inside. Cypselae 3-3.5 mm; pappi: lengths ± ¹/2 corollas, bristles barbellate. 2n = 20, 60.

Flowering (Jul-)Aug-Oct. Outcrops of granite and sandstone, rocky slopes, sandy stream banks, openings in pine-oak, oak barrens; 200-600 m; Ala., Ga., Ky., N.C., S.C., Tenn.

Slender, 3-8 dm, essentially glabrous; lvs numerous, linear, the lower ones 3-16 cm נ1-5 mm, the others fairly gradually reduced upward; infl racemiform and sometimes secund, the ±numerous heads on slender, erect peduncles 3-20 mm (or a few of the uppermost subsessile), often turned away from the axis; invol narrow, sub cylindric, 6-8 mm, its green or greenish bracts narrowly scarious-margined, blunt, commonly broadly rounded above; fls 4-5(6) per head; cor 6-8 mm, including the 1.5-2 mm lobes, glabrous within; pappus barbellate, short, seldom reaching the sinuses of the cor; 2n=20. Exposed, rocky places, glades, and sandy shores; mts. of Ky. to S.C., Ga., and Ala. Aug., Sept.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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