Liatris
(derivation unexplained). Blazing Star; Button Snake-Root. ORD. Compositae. A genus comprising about sixteen species of hardy perennial herbs, natives of North America. Flower-heads purplish or white, handsome, spicate, racemose, or panicled; scales of the involucre imbricated, appressed; receptacles naked; achenes slender. Leaves alternate or scattered, narrow, entire, one to five-nerved. The species form exceedingly pretty border plants, thriving in any moderately good light soil. Propagated by division, in spring; or by seeds, sown usually early in autumn.
L. elegans (elegant). fl.-heads purplish, disposed in spikes 1ft. or more in length. Summer and autumn. l. spotted, glabrous; radical ones spathulate, three to five-nerved; upper ones ligualate, short, sometimes spiny tipped. h. 2ft. to 4ft. 1787. (B. R. 267.) L. graminifolia (grass-leaved). fl.-heads purple, in the axils of the upper leaves or bracts, loosely spicate; involucre about six-flowered. September. l. remotely dotted, acuminated, ciliate at base. Stem simple. Root tuberous. h. 2ft. 1838.
L. g. dubia (doubtful). A variety with an upright and virgate spike, with many approximate, rather large heads, or occasionally racemiform; bracts of the involucre narrower and thinner than in the type. (B. M. 3829, under name of L. propinqua.) L. g. pilosa (pilose). A variety having unusually narrow involucral scales. (B. R. 595.) L. odoratissima. See Trilisa odoratissima.
L. pycnostachya (dense-spiked). fl.-heads pale purple, in a dense cylindrical spike, 1ft. to 1 1/2ft. long. Summer and autumn. l. rigid, sessile; lower ones narrow, lanceolate, blunt, five to seven-nerved; upper ones short, crowded, narrow-ligulate, acuminated. Stems thick, leafy. h. 3ft. to 5ft. 1732. A very desirable plant, and one of the most useful for growing on dry soils where few other things will live. It is best treated as a biennial, by sowing the seeds in spring.
L. scariosa (scarious). fl.-heads purple, almost 2in. in diameter, disposed in an elongated corymb. September. l. very long and narrow. h. 2ft. 1739. (B. M. 1709; B. R. 1654.) L. spicata (spiked). fl.-heads purple, sessile, in spikes from 6in. to 15in. long; involucral scales oblong or oval, appressed. September. l. lanceolate, ciliated at base, acute. h. 1ft. to 2ft. 1732. (B. M. 1411.) L. squarrosa (squarrose). fl.-heads bright purple, rough, shortly stalked, on leafy and downy stems; involucral scales, with elongated and leaflike tips. Summer and autumn. l., radical ones long, about 1/2in. wide, three to five-nerved; stem ones ligulate, rigid. h. 2ft. to 3ft. 1732.