Woolly chaffhead

Liatris tomentosa Michaux, Fl. Bor.-Amer. 2: 93. 1803; Carphephorus tomentosus var. walteri (Elliott) Fernald

Plants 20–80 cm. Stems sparsely to densely hirsute to hirsute-villous, sometimes strigose distally, gland-dotted. Leaves: basal and proximal cauline oblanceolate, mostly 3.5–15 cm; cauline gradually reduced, faces gland-dotted. Heads in flat-topped, corymbiform arrays. Peduncles villoso-hirsute, gland-dotted. Involucres 7–11 mm. Phyllaries 15–40+ in 3–5+ series, ovate-lanceolate to broadly ovate, villous, and gland-dotted, apices acute to obtuse. Receptacles partially paleate (paleae often 4–5). Corollas glandular, lobes ca. 2 mm. Cypselae eglandular; pappus bristles in ± 1 series. 2n = 20.

Flowering Aug–Oct. Moist to dry pine savannas, flatwoods, pine-oak woodland, wire-grass savannas, fields, sometimes more moist, peaty soils, shrub bogs, seepage; 10–50 m; Ga., N.C., S.C., Va.