| Author | (Nuttall) Gaiser | |
| Distribution | Coastal Plain and Sandhills.
Coastal Plain, southern NJ to southern FL and LA. | |
| Abundance | Uncommon to common. | |
| Habitat | Wet Longleaf Pine-Wiregrass savannas and flatwoods, ecotones of pocosins, blackwater streamheads and ecotones.
See also Habitat Account for Wet, Sandy, Fire-maintained Herblands | |
| Phenology | Flowering and fruiting August-September into early October. | |
| Identification | Blazing-stars typically have single stems, many slender leaves, and a terminal spike-like inflorescencxe of disk florets only. They grow from very hard, roundish, underground corms. Dense Blazing-star grows 2-5 feet tall, 1 stem from a single corm, stems erect, lower leaves lance-shaped, mid and upper leaves abruptly narrower, shorter, and stalkless. Heads are numerous in a dense spike, have 5-8 red-purple florets, and occur all round the stem. Variety spicata differs in having leaves gradually smaller up the stem, usually longer involucral bracts, and usually more florets per head. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | Note that the distributions of the two varieties of L. spicata do not overlap in NC. Weakley (2022) elevates each to full species status, saying of form spicata: "Blooming earlier than the coastal L. resinosa, even though occurring inland, more northerly, and at higher elevations". However, the website editors will await a published journal paper before making the move.
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| Other Common Name(s) | | |
| State Rank | [S3S4] | |
| Global Rank | G5T3T5 | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
