Prairie Blazing Star (Liatris pycnostachya)

Prairie Blazing Star in Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie.

Prairie Blazing Star grows in mesic to moist but never in standing water. From my own experience, they are the tallest of all of the blazing stars. The flower spike tends to curve slightly side to side and is usually thinner than the other blazing stars.

Here Prairie Blazing Stars are growing in clumps in a reconstruction site in Midewin. They are naturally found in high quality sites. Ninety-eight percent of blazing star flowers are purple, as you see above, but very few are naturally white. I have seen a few in my experience.

It will take a few years before a seedling will reach this much growth and robustness. Most do not start  flowering the first year, a few start flowering the second year and most will flower the third year. If conditions are poor, then the plant will flower the fourth year or later.

Blazing stars are relatively hard to identify from my experience, but I just concentrate on the habitat and height of the plant to determine what kind of blazing star it is.