Liatris squarrosa

Scaly Blazing Star, Scaly Gayfeather, Scaly Liatris

Scaly Blazing Star is un upright herbaceous perennial found in high quality natural habitats including openings in upland rocky woodlands, dry ditches and and barren savannas from the eastern Great Plains eastward to Virginia and south. In NC it is reported mostly in piedmont counties. Scaly Blazing Star is one funky flower! “Dr. Seuss” flowers! The plant is only 2 – 2.5 feet high, with sturdy, unbranched shoots supporting the striking inflorescence. Individual flower heads, which are spaced along a terminal spike, are composed of tubular disk flowers (ray flowers are absent) with exserted styles, making for a tufted look. The overlapping bracts just beneath the flower are strongly reflexed and definitely part of the flower’s charm. Planted in a dry site in full sun, Scaly Blazing Star will show off its hard-to-describe rosie-pink-purple color while it attracts hummingbirds, buttterflies, bees and other pollinating insects to your garden.