Lucas Land
Grass-leaved Blazing Star
Liatris pilosa
From the Brooklyn Botanical Garden
Most of us know Liatris via the cut-flower industry. It is yet another North American wildflower that Europeans have selected, hybridized, grown in large scale, and exported back to us for mass consumption. Long, purple floral spikes of Liatris can be found in everything from high-end arrangements to basic supermarket bouquets.
Liatris pilosa (grass-leafed blazing star) is a very compact, one- to two-foot-high plant with soft, two-inch-long, needlelike foliage on reddish-pink stems. It produces a profusion of small, soft lavender to near white flowers in early fall. The plant's natural range is from New Jersey south to Alabama.