Liatris tenuifolia

Liatris tenuifolia
Photo taken by Gil Nelson
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class:	Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Asteraceae ⁄ Compositae
Genus:	Liatris
Species:	L. tenuifolia
Binomial name
Liatris tenuifolia Nutt.
Natural range of Liatris tenuifolia from USDA NRCS Plants Database.

Common name: shortleaf blazing star

Description

A description of Liatris tenuifolia is provided in The Flora of North America.

Ecology

Habitat

Habitats of L. tenuifolia include longleaf pine-turkey oak sand ridge, dry Quercus laurifolia hammock, scrub-oak ridge, sandhills, semi-boggy areas, wet pine flatwoods,course sand and scrub oak barren, and annually burned pinelands (FSU Herbarium). Human disturbed areas include moist loamy sand of roadside depression, dry sand of scrubby ridges along roads, bordering pine flatwoods along the road, sandy clearings, open fields, and on the edge of clearing banks of rivers (FSU Herbarium).

Soil types observed include moist loamy sand, dry sand, coarse sand, gravelly sandy soil, white sand, sandy loam, and sandy-peaty soils (FSU Herbarium). Availability of nitrogen, pH, organic matter, and inorganic nutrients such as (Ca, K, Mg, and P) have been observed to be concentrated at low levels in the soil (Anderson and Menges 1997).

Plants associated include Liatris, Andropogon, Quercus geminata, Quercus laevis, Quercus laurifolia, Carya floridana, Crataegus, Chrysopsis, Aristida, Balduina, Carphephorus, Penstemon, Polygonella, Pinus clausa, Pinus palustris, Solidago, Pityopsis, Carphephorus odoratissimus, Illex glabra, Serenoa repens, Euthamia minor, Panicum rigidulum, Pterocaulon pyncnostachyum, Elephantopus elatus and Aster dumosus (FSU Herbarium).

Phenology

Flowers have been documented blooming in September through November (FSU Herbarium).

Seed bank and germination

Fire improves seedling recruitment (Whelan 1970).

Fire ecology

L. tenuifolia responds positively to conditions following a burn by increased vegetative growth and flowering and typically blooms within a year or so following fire (Anderson and Menges 1997). There is an increase in growth and flowering in burned sandhill sites located in south-central Florida (Anderson and Menges 1997). It also has been found in burned and unburned patches of degraded longleaf pine sandhill (Heuberger and Putz 2003).

Pollination

The following Hymenoptera families and species were observed visiting flowers of Liatris tenuifolia at Archbold Biological Station (Deyrup 2015):

Apidae: Apis mellifera, Bombus impatiens, B. pennsylvanicus

Halictidae: Agapostemon splendens, Augochlorella aurata, Augochloropsis sumptuosa

Megachilidae: Coelioxys mexicana, C. sayi, Megachile albitarsis, M. brevis pseudobrevis, M. brimleyi, M. petulans, M. texana

Sphecidae: Ammophila procera

Photo Gallery

References and notes

Anderson, R. C. and E. S. Menges (1997). "Effects of fire on sandhill herbs: nutrients, mycorrhizae, and biomass allocation." American Journal of Botany 84: 938-948.

Deyrup, M.A. and N.D. 2015. Database of observations of Hymenoptera visitations to flowers of plants on Archbold Biological Station, Florida, USA.

Florida State University Robert K. Godfrey Herbarium database. URL: http://herbarium.bio.fsu.edu. Last accessed: July 2015. Collectors: Loran C. Anderson, Wilson Baker, Ann F. Johnson, R.K. Godfrey, R. Kral, J. P. Gillespie, James D. Ray, Jr., Olga Lakela, Jackie Patman, R L Lazor, V. I. Sullivan, D. B. Ward, Tin Myint, Jame Amoroso, Bian Tan, Paul L. Redfearn, Jr., Sidney McDaniel, Bruce Hansen, JoAnn Hansen, A. F. Clewell, John Morrill, William B. Fox, W. D. Reese, Nancy Z. Edmondson, P. Genelle, G. Fleming, Elmer C. Prichard, Richard D. Houk, O. Lakela, R. Komarek, R.A. Norris, Cecil R Slaughter, Tara Baridi, Rex Ellis. States and Counties: Florida: Bay, Brevard, Citrus, Columbia, Dixie, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Hernando, Hillsborough, Holmes, Jackson, Lafayette, Liberty, Leon, Madison, Okaloosa, Osceola, Polk Putnam, Santa Rosa, Taylor, Union, Wakulla, Walton. Georgia: Thomas. Compiled by Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy.

Heuberger, K. A. and F. E. Putz (2003). "Fire in the suburbs: ecological impacts of prescribed fire in small remnants of longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) sandhill." Restoration Ecology 11: 72-81.

Reinhart, K. O. and E. S. Menges (2004). "Effects of re-introducing fire to a central Florida sandhill community." Applied Vegetation Science 7: 141-150.

Whelan, W.A. 1970. Patterns of recruitment to plant populations after fire in western Australia and Florida. Proceedings of the Ecological Society of Australia 14:169-178.