origin of name "Liatris"
I love etymology of plant and insects names, so here goes...
Coffey (1993) and online sources note that the origin of the genus name "Liatris" is obscure. Guessing there was an interchange of "i" and "l" at some point, I might speculate it is from Greek "iatros" = physician. (The plant was long reputed to have therapeutic properties.) Poking around the Internet, I do see mention of a Greek combining form of that root as "-liatros".
" Heliatros means one who not only cuts corns, but who treats them in every regard. Tyliatros means the same in the modern Greek sense and is today used in Athens to signify what the English-speaking people call a chiropodist." (Lewi, 1914)
Edit. A good source on etymology in biology is The Century Dictionary. Its says:
Liatris. [NL (J.C.D. Schreber, 1774); origin unknown]
I've run this by a botanist I know and will see if they have any ideas on further research that could be done.
References
- Coffey, History and Folklore of North American Wildflowers (Houghton Mifflin, 1993), pp. 268-9
- Lewi, The Textbook of Chiropody (1914--Google Books)
- The Century Dictionary (p. 3431), entry for Liatris--available at http://www.global-language.com/century/
Observations
Photos / Sounds
What
Shaggy Blazing Star (Liatris pilosa)Observer
cotinisDescription
Blazing Star - Liatris pilosa
Nice patch along a roadside found while out running errands.
I feel like I used to see this plant around the Triangle more frequently. It seems to do well along roadsides that are mowed occasionally. Many roads have been widened recently and the margins dug up for utilities. I feel like use of herbicides is more common than it used to be, though I have no firm information on this.
Trivia. "Blazing Star" is archaic English for "comet".
Coffey (1993) and online sources note that the origin of the genus name "Liatris" is obscure. Guessing there was an interchange of "i" and "l" at some point, I might speculate it is from Greek "iatros" = physician. (The plant was long reputed to have therapeutic properties.) Poking around the Internet, I do see mention of a combining form of that root as "-liatros". Looks promising, but hard to know if it can be confirmed.
References
- Coffey, History and Folklore of North American Wildflowers (Houghton Mifflin, 1993), pp. 268-9
- Radford et al., Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (UNC Press, 1968), pp. 1049-50 (L. graminifolia--taxonomy has changed, but this is how I've always known this plant)
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (UNC Herbarium, 2020), p. 1527
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