''Stokesia'' is a

monotypic genus In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

of flowering plants in the daisy family,

Asteraceae Asteraceae () is a large family (biology), family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the Order (biology), order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchi ...

, containing the single species ''Stokesia laevis''. Common names include Stokes' aster and stokesia.''Stokesia laevis''.
NatureServe. 2012. The species is native to the southeastern United States. The flowers appear in the summer and are purple, blue, or white in nature.''Stokesia'' L’Héritier.
''

Flora of North America The ''Flora of North America North of Mexico'' (usually referred to as ''FNA'') is a multivolume work describing the native plants and naturalized plants of North America, including the United States, Canada, St. Pierre and Miquelon, and Greenla ...

''. The plant is cultivated as a garden flower. Several

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

s are available, including the

cornflower blue Cornflower blue is a shade of medium-to-light blue containing relatively little green. This hue was one of the favorites of the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. The most valuable blue sapphires are called cornflower blue, having a medium-da ...

'Klaus Jelitto', 'Colorwheel', which is white, turning purple over time, and 'Blue Danube', which has a blue flower head with a white center.''Stokesia laevis''.
Missouri Botanical Garden. More unusual cultivars include the pink-flowered 'Rosea' and yellow-flowered 'Mary Gregory'.''Stokesia laevis''.
Floridata. Like a few other plants (such as some species of ''

Vernonia ''Vernonia'' is a genus of about 350 species of forbs and shrubs in the family Asteraceae. Some species of this genus are known as ironweeds. Some species are edible and of economic value. They are known for having intense purple flowers. There h ...

''), it contains

vernolic acid Vernolic acid (leukotoxin B or isoleukotoxin) is a long chain fatty acid that is monounsaturated and contains an epoxide. It is a ''cis'' epoxide derived from the C12–C13 alkene of linoleic acid. Vernolic acid was first definitively character ...

, a

vegetable oil Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of edible plants. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed ...

with commercial applications.Cahoon, E. B., et al. (2002)
Transgenic production of epoxy fatty acids by expression of a cytochrome p450 enzyme from ''Euphorbia lagascae'' seed.
''Plant Physiology'' 128(2), 615-24. The genus is named after

Jonathan Stokes Jonathan Stokes (c. 1755 – 30 April 1831) was an English physician and botanist, a member of the Lunar Society of Birmingham, and an early adopter of the heart drug digitalis. Life and work Stokes was probably born in Chesterfield, Derb ...

(1755–1831), English botanist and physician.

References

External links

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''Stokesia laevis''.
USDA PLANTS. Garden plants Vernonieae Flora of the Southeastern United States {{Asteraceae-stub