The Blazing Star of Autumn
This entry was posted on 3 Sep 2007, 5:35 AM and is filed under Another Roadside Attraction.
The other day I was traveling down Lohman Ford Road when I caught a flash of bright purple color out of the corner of my eye. Sure enough there was another clump, and another. The tall purple spikes of Blazing star are growing along the road bank south of the now defunct Issimo restaurant. Yesterday I noticed more stands of this striking perennial along RR 1431 just below the newspaper office.
Blazing star or gay feather is a member of the Liatris family and several species are native to Texas. A favorite
nectar plant for butterfliesand bees
,
Blazing star has also been called Colic Root alluding to it's use as an intestinal antispasmodic and Devil's Bite, perhaps because the powdered root was used for treating snake bites.
