It is native to North and South Carolina in the United States,[2] where it is found in habitats such as sand ridges and sandy fields to roadsides; it is also found in turkey-oak and longleaf pine-oak plant communities.

It blooms in late summer with purple flower heads.

[3] Liatris cokeri grows from rounded corms that produce hairless stems, 25 to 85 centimeters (10–34 inches) tall.

The foliage is mostly hairless or may have some hairs on the margins; the leaves are gradually or abruptly reduced in size as they ascend the stem length.

The seed is produced in cypselae fruits that are 3 to 4+ millimeters long with feathery bristle-like pappi with minute barbs.