Family: Asteraceae
Group: Dicot
Substrate:
Terrestrial
Habit:
Herb
Perennation:
Perennial
Native Range: Endemic to peninsular Florida from Lee County north to Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.
Map of select IRC data for peninsular Florida
IRC SOUTH FLORIDA Status:
Critically Imperiled
SOUTH FLORIDA Occurrence:
Present
SOUTH FLORIDA Native Status:
Native
South Florida History and Distribution: This species was newly described in 2003 (Kral & Nesom 2003). South Florida plants were treated historically as
Liatris graminifolia, a species now known to be native to the north of Florida. It was reported as extirpated in South Florida (as
L. graminifolia in
Gann et al. (2002; pp 83-84), based on one specimen collected in Lee County in 1933, and one specimen collected in Punta Gorda in Charlotte County in 1961. Subsequently, a second specimen from Lee County originally identified as
L. spicata was determined to be this; it was collected near the public library in Fort Myers in 1985 (
Brown s.n. USF). In 2019, Jay Horn posted observations of a population from Estero Bay Preserve State Park in Lee County on
iNaturalist, and has subsequently annotated a number of other observations from at least four occurrences in Lee, Charlotte, and Collier counties. Many of these had been previously reported as
Liatris spicata.
SOUTH FLORIDA Cultivated Status:
Not Cultivated
Comments: For images, click on the Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants link below.
Synonyms: Liatris graminifolia, misapplied.
