Cut Flower Exports of Africa    
Home Start key Fact sheets Glossary Common flowers    

Liatris Gaertner ex Schreber

Asteraceae (Eupatorieae tribe)

  Liatris spicata:
stem
 
Common names

gayfeather, button snakeroot

Species cultivated

Most commonly cultivated

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

Other species

L. aspera Michx.

L. pycnostachya Michx.

L. scariosa (L.) Willd.

Origin

North America.

Brief characterization

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.

Cultivar and/or species variation

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.

Countries exporting

South Africa, Zimbabwe.

   
Liatris spicata: part of inflorescence axis (left), head (middle), disc florets (right)

Liatris aspera: inflorescence
Photo: © K.R. Robertson, Illinois Natural History Survey

Liatris aspera: head, longitudinal section
Photo: © K.R. Robertson, Illinois Natural History Survey


 
Liatris scariosa var. nieuwlandii
Photo: © K.R. Robertson, Illinois Natural History Survey
 
Liatris pycnostachya
Photo: © K.R. Robertson, Illinois Natural History Survey

Liatris spicata 'Purple Torch'
Photo: © K. Sahin, Zaden B.V.

Liatris spicata 'White Torch'
Photo: © K.R. Robertson, Illinois Natural History Survey
 top