{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}} {{Redirect|Blazing star}} {{MCN|date=May 2025}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Liatris spicata Purple.jpg | image_caption = ''Liatris spicata'' | display_parents = 2 | taxon = Liatris | authority = Gaertn. ex Schreb. | synonyms_ref=<ref name="Global Compositae Checklist"/> | synonyms= * ''Lacinaria'' <small>Hill</small> * ''Calostelma'' <small>D.Don</small> * ''Suprago'' <small>Gaertn.</small> * ''Ammopursus'' <small>Small</small> }} [[Image:Liatris aspera3.jpg|thumb|right|''Liatris ligulistylis'' with goldenrod soldier beetles (''Chauliognathus pennsylvanicus'') on it]]
'''''Liatris''''' ({{IPAc-en|l|aɪ|ˈ|æ|t|r|ᵻ|s}}<ref>''Sunset Western Garden Book''. 1995. 606–07.</ref>), commonly known as '''gayfeather'''<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=37906#null | title=ITIS - Report: Liatris }}</ref> and '''blazing star'''<ref name=fna/><ref name=itis>{{ITIS |id=37906 |taxon=Liatris}}</ref> is a genus of flowering plants in the tribe Eupatorieae within the family Asteraceae native to North America (Canada, United States, Mexico and the Bahamas).<ref>Schreber, Johann Christian Daniel von. 1791. Genera Plantarum 2: 542</ref><ref>{{Tropicos|40006364|Liatris}}</ref><ref name="fna">{{eFloras|1|118496|Liatris |tribe=Eupatorieae |first=Guy L. |last=Nesom}}</ref> Some species are used as ornamental plants, sometimes in flower bouquets. They are perennials, surviving the winter and resprouting from underground corms.<ref name="fna"/>
''Liatris'' species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species such as moths of the genus ''Schinia''.
== Classification == ''Liatris'' is in the tribe Eupatorieae of the aster family. Like other members of this tribe, the flower heads have disc florets and no ray florets. ''Liatris'' is in the subtribe Liatrinae along with ''Trilisa'', ''Carphephorus'', and other genera.<ref name="schmidt">{{ cite journal | title = Phylogeny and biogeography of ''Eupatorium'' (Asteraceae: Eupatorieae) based on nuclear ITS sequence data | author = Schmidt, G. J. and E. E. Schilling | journal = American Journal of Botany | year = 2000 | volume = 87 | pages = 716–726 | pmid = 10811796 | doi = 10.2307/2656858 | issue = 5 | jstor = 2656858 | publisher = Botanical Society of America | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Asteraceae subtribe Liatrinae |url=https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxonomyfamily.aspx?type=subtribe&id=2986<!-- click link to Complete list of genera --> |work=Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) |publisher=Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)}}</ref> ''Liatris'' is closely related to ''Garberia'', a genus with only one species endemic to Florida. The two genera can be distinguished by the shrub form of the latter and by karyotype.<ref name="fna-garberia">{{eFloras|1|113251|Garberia |tribe=Eupatorieae |first=Eric E. |last=Lamont}}</ref>
==Species== Species in the genus include:<ref name="Global Compositae Checklist">[http://dixon.iplantcollaborative.org/CompositaeWeb/default.aspx?Page=NameDetails&TabNum=0&NameId=190992ae-e859-47b8-9334-0f92abcfb227 Flann, C (ed) 2009+ Global Compositae Checklist ] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20141217142107/http://dixon.iplantcollaborative.org/CompositaeWeb/default.aspx?Page=NameDetails&TabNum=0&NameId=190992ae-e859-47b8-9334-0f92abcfb227 |date=2014-12-17 }}</ref><ref name=fna/><ref name=itis/><ref name=grin>[http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/splist.pl?6808 GRIN Species Records of ''Liatris''.] GRIN.</ref><ref>{{BONAP|ref |genus=Liatris}}</ref><ref>Turner, B. L. 1997. The Comps of Mexico: A systematic account of the family Asteraceae, vol. 1 – Eupatorieae. Phytologia Memoirs 11: i–iv, 1–272</ref>
* ''Liatris acidota'' – sharp blazing star, Gulf Coast blazing star - TX LA * ''Liatris aestivalis'' – summer blazing star - TX OK * ''Liatris aspera'' – tall blazing star - ONT, United States (Mississippi Valley, Great Lakes, scattered locales in East) * ''Liatris borealis'' - Allegheny Mountains of PA * ''Liatris × boykinii'' - GA AL * ''Liatris bracteata'' – bracted blazing star - TX * ''Liatris chapmanii'' – Chapman's blazing star - FL GA AL * ''Liatris cokeri'' – Coker's blazing star - NC SC * ''Liatris compacta'' – scaly blazing star - AR OK * ''Liatris creditonensis'' - ONT * ''Liatris cylindracea'' – Ontario blazing star, fewhead blazing star - ONT, central + southeastern United States * ''Liatris cymosa'' – branched blazing star - TX * ''Liatris × deamii'' * ''Liatris densispicata'' - MN * ''Liatris elegans'' – pinkscale blazing star, elegant blazing star - TX OK AR LA MS AL FL GA SC * ''Liatris elegantula'' – shaggy blazing star - TN MS AL GA FL * ''Liatris fallacior'' - ND * ''Liatris × frostii'' - MN MO * ''Liatris garberi'' – Garber's blazing star - FL Bahamas * ''Liatris gholsonii'' – Gholson's blazing star - FL * ''Liatris × gladewitzii'' - ONT, MI WI IL * ''Liatris glandulosa'' – glandular blazing star - TX * ''Liatris gracilis'' – slender blazing star - MS AL GA FL SC * ''Liatris helleri'' – Heller's blazing star, turgid blazing star - MD WV VA NC * ''Liatris hesperelegans'' – pink-scale blazing star, western elegant blazing-star - AR OK TX LA * ''Liatris hirsuta'' – hairy blazing star - central + southeastern United States * ''Liatris laevigata'' – shortleaf blazingstar - FL GA * ''Liatris lancifolia'' – lanceleaf blazingstar - NM TX CO WY KS NE SD IA * ''Liatris ligulistylis'' – Rocky Mountain blazing star, strap-style blazing star - MAN SAS ALB ND SD MN WI IL IA MO NE WY MT CO NM * ''Liatris microcephala'' – small-head blazing star - NC SC GA AL TN KY * ''Liatris novae-angliae'' – New England blazing-star * ''Liatris ohlingerae'' – Florida blazing star, scrub blazing star - FL * ''Liatris oligocephala'' – Cahaba torch - AL * ''Liatris patens'' – spreading blazing star, Georgia blazing star - FL GA SC * ''Liatris pauciflora'' – fewflower blazing star - AL GA FL SC NC * ''Liatris pilosa'' – grass-leaf blazing star, shaggy blazing star - SC NC VA MD DE PA NJ * ''Liatris × platylepis'' - LA * ''Liatris provincialis'' – Godfrey's blazing star - FL * ''Liatris punctata'' – dotted blazing star, plains gayfeather - MAN SAS ALB eastern + central United States Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí * ''Liatris pycnostachya'' – prairie blazing star, button snakeroot, cattail gayfeather, thickspike gayfeather, Kansas gayfeather - QUE eastern United States * ''Liatris × ridgwayi'' - IL KS * ''Liatris savannensis'' – savanna blazing star - FL * ''Liatris scariosa'' – northern gayfeather, devil's bite - eastern + central United States * ''Liatris × serotina'' - LA * ''Liatris × spheroidea'' - ONT * ''Liatris spicata'' – dense blazing star, button snakewort, florist gayfeather, marsh blazingstar, prairie-pine - ONT QUE eastern United States * ''Liatris squarrosa'' – loosescale gayfeather, colicroot, scaly blazing star - central + southeastern United States * ''Liatris squarrulosa'' – southern gayfeather, Appalachian blazing star - south-central + southeastern United States * ''Liatris × steelei'' - IL IN KY * ''Liatris tenuifolia'' – pine-needle gayfeather, shortleaf gayfeather - AL GA SC FL * ''Liatris tenuis'' – gulf blazing star, Shinners' gayfeather - TX LA * ''Liatris virgata'' – wand blazing star, King's Mountain gayfeather, piedmont gayfeather - VA WV NC SC GA * ''Liatris × weaveri'' - NE
==References== {{Reflist}}
*{{Commons category-inline}} *{{Wikispecies-inline}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1580155}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Liatris Category:Asteraceae genera Category:Flora of Northern America Category:Cormous plants