# prairie blazing star

*Liatris pycnostachya*

Unlike most spike-flowered plants which bloom from the bottom up, the prairie blazing star blooms from the top down.

- **Taxonomy:** Plantae › Tracheophyta › Magnoliopsida › Asterales › Asteraceae › Liatris
- **IUCN Red List status:** Least Concern
- **Population trend:** stable
- **Biome:** grassland
- **Habitat:** Tallgrass prairies, moist meadows, clay soils, and roadside ditches
- **Diet:** Autotrophic (photosynthesis)
- **Range:** Central United States, Midwestern Tallgrass Prairies, Texas, Minnesota
- **Size:** 2 to 5 feet (60 to 150 cm) tall
- **Lifespan:** 10-20 years
- **Active:** diurnal
- **Threats:** Habitat fragmentation, agricultural expansion, fire suppression, and herbicide runoff
- **Safe to approach?:** This plant is entirely harmless and safe to touch. Avoid trampling the delicate root systems of wild specimens. No special precautions are needed, but please leave the flowers for native pollinators.

## About

Liatris pycnostachya ( prairie blazing star ) is a perennial plant native to the tallgrass prairies of the United States. Liatris pycnostachya is an erect perennial found in tallgrass prairie remnants in the Midwestern and Eastern United States. The plant reaches 1–3 ft (0.3–0.9 m) in height "with numerous ascending linear leaves and magnificent, showy, compact spikes of rose pink blossoms.

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/021d9137-0bac-43d5-bd7a-2001305f8cda
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/48691
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liatris pycnostachya
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/133681/medium.jpg (Joshua Mayer, CC-BY-SA, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.