A Book of the Seasons: Liatris

I would make a chart of our life, 

know why just this circle of creatures completes the world.

Henry Thoreau, April 18, 1852

Liatris 

bursting into bloom

rich fiery rose-purple

like the sun rising.

September 9, 1852

Liatris novae-angliae — northern blazing star –– 

is endemic to the northeastern United States, 

and is rare and protected in most of New England. ~ GoBotany.

Native to dry, sandy, disturbed soils, 

and produces tall stems with flowers forming 

separate "buttons" alternating up the spike ~ Native Plant Trust

July 29. Peter appears to have cut all the liatris before its time.  [no.] July 29, 1853

August 1.  Liatris will apparently open in a day or two. August 1, 1856 

August 7. To Peter’s, Beck Stow’s, and Walden. Liatris. August 7, 1854

 

August 9.  At Peter's well . . . I also find one or two heads of the liatris. Perhaps I should have seen it a few days earlier, if it had not been for the mower. It has the aspect of a Canada thistle at a little distance. August 9, 1853 

August 20. The liatris now in prime purple with a bluish reflection. August 20, 1853

August 26.  The liatris is about (or nearly) in prime. August 26, 1858

September 6.  The liatris is, perhaps, a little past prime. It is a very rich purple in favorable lights and makes a great show where it grows. Any one to whom it is new will be surprised to learn that it is a wild plant. For prevalence and effect it may be put with the vernonia, and it has a general resemblance to thistles and knapweed, but is a handsomer plant than any of them.  September 6, 1859

September 9. Also by Cæsar's well, Liatris scariosa, handsome rose-purple, with the aspect of a Canada thistle at a distance, or a single vernonia. Referred to August. Ah! the beauty of the liatris bud just bursting into bloom, the rich fiery rose-purple, like that of the sun at his rising. Some call it button snakeroot. September 9, 1852

September 28.  Liatris done, apparently some time. September 28, 1858

December 23.  The now bare or empty heads of the liatris look somewhat like dusky daisies surmounted by a little button instead of a disk. The last, a stiff, round, parchment-like skin, the base on which its flowerets stood, is pierced by many little round holes just like the end of a thimble, where the cavities are worn through, and it is convex like that. It readily scales off and you can look through it. December 23, 1859

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, Liatris

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau

 "A book, each page written in its own season,

out-of-doors, in its own locality."

 ~edited, assembled and rewritten by zphx ©  2009-2025