Liatris tenuis Shinn.

Liatris tenuis is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants.

Plants 30–55 cm. Corms globose to subglobose. Stems strigoso-puberulent. Leaves: basal and proximal cauline 1(–3)-nerved, linear-lanceolate to linear-oblanceolate, 120–250 × 2–3(–5) mm, abruptly reduced on distal ¹/2–²/3 of stems, sparsely pilose (abaxial faces), gland-dotted. Heads in loose, spiciform arrays (internodes 1–15 mm). Peduncles 0 or 1–5 mm. Involucres cylindro-campanulate, 10–13 × 5–6(–7) mm. Phyllaries in 3–4(–5) series, outermost narrowly triangular, unequal, sparsely fine-pilose to glabrate, margins without hyaline borders, ciliate, apices (loosely divergent) acute to acuminate (innermost sometimes obtuse and short-acuminate). Florets 10–12; corolla tubes glabrous inside. Cypselae 4.2–4.5 mm; pappi: lengths equaling corollas, bristles barbellate or proximally plumose.