Liatris cokeri
| Liatris cokeri | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Asterids |
| Order: | Asterales |
| Family: | Asteraceae |
| Tribe: | Eupatorieae |
| Genus: | Liatris |
| Species: | L. cokeri |
| Binomial name | |
| Liatris cokeri Pyne & Stucky. | |
Liatris cokeri, also known as Coker's gayfeather and Sandhills blazing star,[1] is a plant species in the aster family Asteraceae and genus Liatris. It is native to North and South Carolina in the United States, where it is found in habitats such as sand ridges and sandy fields to roadsides; it is also found in turkey-oak and longleaf pine-oak plant communities. It blooms in late summer with purple flower heads.
It grows from rounded corms that produce hairless stems, 25 to 85 centimeters tall. The flowers are in dense heads, and the heads lack stems or have stems that orient the heads upward. The heads are arranged in dense spike-like or raceme-like collections and the heads tend orientate and face the same direction, especially on reclining branches. The basal and cauline leaves have one nerve and are lance-linear to linear in shape. The foliage is mostly hairless or may have some hairs on the margins; the leaves are gradually or abruptly reduced in size as they ascend the stem length. It flowers in August and October. The seed are produced in cypselae fruits that are 3 to 4+ millimeters long with feathery bristle-like pappi that have minute barbs.[2]