THICKSPIKE GAYFEATHER
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| File Size: 117 KB |
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Liatris pycnostachya Michx.
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| Woodson County, Kansas |
| Perennial |
| Height: 2-5 feet |
| Family: Asteraceae - Sunflower Family |
| Flowering Period: July, August, September |
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| Also Called: | | Kansas gayfeather, tall blazing star, prairie blazing star. | | Stems: | | Erect, stiff, coarse-hairy in the inflorescence at maturity. | | Leaves: | | Alternate, numerous, linear, 4 to 20 inches long, up to 1/2 inch wide, reduced upward. | | Inflorescences: | | Spike, elongated, 6 to 12 inches long; heads sessile, crowded, cylindric, 1/3 to 1/2 inch tall. | | Flowers: | | Bracts tapering to points, tips spreading, curved backward; ray florets absent; disk florets 5-12, corollas pinkish-purple, glabrous within, about 1/3 inch long. | | Fruits: | | Achene, ribbed, tipped with finely barbed bristles, enclosing small seed. | | Habitat: | | Open moist prairies, draws, low areas, and open woods. | | Distribution: | | East 1/2 of Kansas. | | Uses: | | A poultice made from the roots was used in the past to treat snakebites. | | Comments: | | Thickspike gayfeather is sometimes used in dried flower arrangements. |
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| Thickspike gayfeather inflorescence |  | | 94 KB | | Woodson County, Kansas |
| | Thickspike gayfeather florets |  | | 67 KB | | Woodson County, Kansas |
| | Thickspike gayfeather leaves |  | | 163 KB | | Woodson County, Kansas |
| | Thickspike gayfeather |  | | 167 KB | | Woodson County, Kansas |
| | Thickspike gayfeather |  | | 72 KB | | Barton County, Missouri |
| | Thickspike gayfeather |  | | 48 KB | | Barton County, Missouri |
| | Thickspike gayfeather |  | | 52 KB | | Barton County, Missouri |
| | Thickspike gayfeather inflorescence |  | | 66 KB | | Cherokee County, Kansas |
| | Thickspike gayfeather |  | | 146 KB | | Akin Prairie, Douglas County, Kansas |
| | Thickspike gayfeather |  | | 86 KB | | Akin Prairie, Douglas County, Kansas |
| | Thick spike gayfeather florets |  | | 68 KB | | Akin Prairie, Douglas County, Kansas |
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