Liatris Gaertner ex Schreber

	Liatris spicata: stem

gayfeather, button snakeroot

Most commonly cultivated

Liatris spicata (L.) Willd. (=L. callilepsis hort.)

Other species

L. aspera Michx.

L. pycnostachya Michx.

L. scariosa (L.) Willd.

North America.

Inflorescence stems bearing spirally alternate, needle-like leaves and button-like discoid heads of flowers (florets) in an orderly spike or raceme; head subtended by funnel-shaped involucre of imbricate phyllaries in a few series; spike unusual in that heads open from the top downwards; mature florets have long-exserted, branched styles, giving spike a hairy look; pappus of barbed capillary bristles.

Few cultivars; spikes dense with small heads (ca. 0.8-1.5 cm across) to racemes with larger heads (to ca. 3 cm across as in Liatris scariosa); number of florets per head varies, e.g. 5-14 in L. spicata, 25-40 in L. aspera, and 35-60 in L. scariosa; phyllaries sometimes recurved; heads purple or white.

South Africa, Zimbabwe.