| Author | Michaux | |
| Distribution | Sandhills, lower Piedmont, and southern Mountains; a few other scattered records. The gap across most of the Piedmont appears to be real. This species may involve 2-3 entities -- full species, varieties, etc. -- thus explaining the odd range and the great array of habitats.
WV to IL and MO, south to GA and TX. | |
| Abundance | Complex. Uncommon and local in the Sandhills and adjacent southwestern Coastal Plain. Rare to locally uncommon in the northeastern Piedmont (on high pH soils); rare in the southwestern Mountains and in the South Mountains. Very rare elsewhere in the Piedmont. Though the NCNHP lists this as Significantly Rare and a State Rank of S2, it is not nearly that scarce, and it should be downlisted just to Watch List and with a State Rank of S2S3, if not S3. | |
| Habitat | In the Coastal Plain/Sandhills -- mainly in loamy sand of Longleaf Pine-oak-hickory woodlands; in the Piedmont -- strictly on high pH soils of glades, barrens, and prairie-like openings; in the Mountains -- mesic to dry oak-hickory and pine-oak-hickory woodlands, but on high pH soils. As soils in the Sandhills are not clearly circumneutral, there are a minimum of two "cryptic" species involved here. | |
| Phenology | Flowering and fruiting late August-October. | |
| Identification | This "species" grows mostly 2-4 feet tall, with many heads that cause the stems to lean or even become parallel to ground. Heads are short-stalked and are oriented sideways along the stem -- unlike any of our other species. Involucral bracts are recurved. There is some variability in the species over its range in the state -- not surprisingly. This is a striking and handsome plant. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | Formerly treated as L. earlei, and there are other synonyms (see Weakley 2018). This species needs additional taxonomic study, as there are clearly a few entities included within this complex. See also FNA's discussion and comments regarding the montane populations.
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| Other Common Name(s) | FNA uses Southern Blazing-star; Earle's Blazing-star. None of the names used in this account are particularly apt; a new name needs to be coined. | |
| State Rank | S2 [S2S3] | |
| Global Rank | G4G5 | |
| State Status | SR-P [W1 | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
