Dwarf Blazing Star, Cylindrical Blazing Star, Slender Blazing Star

The flowers are visited primarily by long-tongued bees, butterflies, skippers, and bee flies. Some short-tongued bees may visit the flow...Read Moreers to collect pollen, but they are not effective pollinators. The caterpillars of the rare Schinia gloriosa (Glorious Flower Moth) feed on the flowers and seed capsules of this and other Liatris spp. Mammalian herbivores readily consume all parts of this plant, including rabbits, groundhogs, deer, and livestock. Prairie and Meadow Voles sometimes eat the corms. An overpopulation of these animals can make the establishment of this plant difficult in some areas.

This is another lovely Blazingstar; it is much shorter than most of the others, and tends to bloom earlier. Cylindrical Blazingstar is easy to identify because of the smooth cylindrical surface formed by the green bracts subtending the flowers; this cylindrical surface is longer and larger than what is encountered in other Blazingstars that occur in Illinois. Amerindians would sometimes eat the corms of Blazingstars, although this was considered starvation food. If the mouse cursor is moved over the upper photograph, a close-up of the compound flower will be revealed.