Tennessee › Asteraceae
Barrelhead Blazing Star
Also known as
Barrelhead Gayfeather; Ontario Blazing Star; Ontario Gayfeather
Listed in Tennessee’s rare-plant reference. Use nursery-propagated plants; conservation status is separate from this ecological score.
Calculated with the same rules as North Carolina, using Tennessee host-range and conservation-rank inputs. Native-status evidence is shown separately.
Tennessee scoring method and limits
Insect resources, birds and habitat
| Caterpillars | 4 recorded species on the genus Host genera of native Lepidoptera recorded in Tennessee; host association and range overlap, not confirmed local feeding. |
| Bees | 46 recorded species on the genus Southeastern North America |
| Specialist bees | 8 recorded species on the genus Eastern North America |
| Birds | 0 recorded species on the genus North America |
| Structure | Forb/herb |
Baseline 56; additional insect credit +0. Rarity adjustment -8 using the NC rule (unranked: −5; final score floor: 5). Missing records do not establish zero ecological use.
Native to Tennessee (state-specific source). Tennessee yard-fit calculations are not available yet.
Recorded in your county?
Choose a county to check the available records.
County occurrence is not proof of native range or yard suitability. A missing record does not establish absence.
| Tennessee status | Native to Tennessee (state-specific source) |
| Source conservation rank | S2 |
| Recorded in Tennessee | 9 counties in the atlas snapshot |
Growing conditions
Full sun, moderately dry to dry moisture level, sandy or rocky soil, slightly acid to slightly alkaline pH. 1 ½ to 2 ft. height, blooms summer to fall, rose purple flowers, will re-seed.
Native Region: Only occurs in 7 counties — Decatur, Rutherford, Franklin, Marion, Rhea, Meigs, & Roane counties. UT Smart Yards source
Native-status evidence
Combined TN–KY atlas flag: Y. A regional flag alone does not settle Tennessee native status.
Combined-source assessment
Native to Tennessee (state-specific source)
A TN-specific UT native-guide page or an exact entry in the Tennessee rare-plant list supports a direct source claim. Otherwise, TN occurrence plus an atlas native flag and exact-name native evidence from NC flora or USDA L48 supports a provisional state inference. No one regional claim or occurrence alone establishes TN nativity; NC and L48 claims retain their actual scopes.
UT Tennessee Smart Yards native-plant guide: native (TN). Native Region: Only occurs in 7 counties — Decatur, Rutherford, Franklin, Marion, Rhea, Meigs, & Roane counties.
Tennessee Natural Heritage rare-plant list (2025): native (TN). Liatris cylindracea Slender Blazing-star Liatris pilosa Shaggy Blazing Star Liatris virgata Wand Blazing Star Lilium grayi Gray's Lily Lilium philadelphicum Wood Lily Liparis loeselii Fen Orchis Lithospermum bejariense Western False Gromwell
TN–KY Plant Atlas: native (TN–KY).
Sources
- Tennessee–Kentucky Plant Atlas
- UT Smart Yards
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025: Tennessee range and host extract
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database, growth habit (public domain)
Machine-readable: plant evidence.
Quercus Score v0.6.4 · built 2026-09-26 · Tennessee beta · sources and limitations on every page