Fort Worth, Texas
November 27,  2001

In celebration of its 10th anniversary, the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT) has announced the discovery of two early-flowering species of Blazing Star, Liatris aestivalis and Liatris
glandulosa, in Fort Worth.

TThe two new Liatris species were discovered by Guy L. Nesom, Ph.D., head of BRIT’s Floras
Program, and Robert J. O’Kennon, a BRIT research associate and board member and an American Airlines pilot.

“The discovery of a new plant species is important in that it may have an as-yet-unknown role in
food webs and ecological interactions supporting the diversity of life,” said Dr. Nesom. “Recognition that nature is even more diverse than previously thought increases our awe of its beauty.”

Several species of Blazing Star are sold in nurseries as ornamental garden plants, appreciated for
their long, dense spires of brilliant, violet-purple flowers. One of the main features that distinguishes these species is their different flowering periods. Liatris aestivalis (known as Summer Blazing Star

because it blooms in the summer) is so similar to its well-known “cousin,” Liatris mucronata, (which blooms in the fall) that botanists have not scientifically distinguished it before now.

“From a practical standpoint, gardeners can now anticipate a flowering period lasting from summer
through fall if they plant both species of Liatris,” said Dr. Nesom.

One of the largest, most visible locations of Liatris aestivalis is in west Fort Worth just behind
Ridgmar Mall at the corner of Green Oaks Drive and Genoa Road in an area as yet undeveloped
commercially. They also have been spotted in 13 other counties in a north/south band from south central Oklahoma to central Texas.

Liatris glandulosa, which also blooms in the summer, is so named because its glands secrete a
sticky substance making the plant sticky to the touch. The Spring Creek Forest Preserve in Garland, Texas, has patches of rocky prairie, where L. glandulosa occurs in abundance.

Technical information about these new species is available in Nesom and O’Kennon’s paper entitled, “Two New Species of Liatris Series Punctatae (Asteraceae:Eupatorieae) Centered in North-Central Texas,” soon to be published in SIDA, CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY, a BRIT publication.

Nesom is an active researcher in the systematics of plants of the United States and Mexico. He has authored or co-authored more than 245 published journal articles and reviews on the taxonomy and evolution of species and species groups in 23 families. His published research also has included studies on forest community structure and evolutionary phenomena such as seed dispersal, hybridization, geographic variation in chromosome number, and documentation of invasive species. He is an expert in the general identification of vascular plants of North America, especially the northern half of Mexico.

O'Kennon is one of the most productive plant collectors in Texas. In recent years he has
collected thousands of specimens including a number of new species and hundreds of important distributional records. He has over 20 years’ experience studying the plants of Texas. Besides co-authoring Flora of North Central Texas and the soon-to-be-published Illustrated Flora of East Texas, he is working with co-author Dr. J. B. Phipps of the University of Western Ontario on Hawthorns (Crataegus) of the World.

For more information about these new discoveries, contact Dr. Nesom (817.332.4441).

Company news release
N3985