Plants of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

Narrow-leaved Coneflower is a native perennial forb of the prairies. It grows to 30 inches high on erect unbranched stems, usually covered with spreading hairs. Stems are green to purplish.

The leaves are found on the base and lower parts of the stem and are usually in an ascending position. The basal leaves are 2 to 10 inches long, narrow, lanceolate to ovate in shape with 3 to 5 main nerves, margins are entire but usually with marginal hair. Leaf tips are roundly pointed, bases taper to a short winged stalk. Stem leaves are concentrated on the lower stem; they are alternate, 2 to 4 inches long at mid-stem and any above will be similar but smaller and the uppers will lack a stalk.

The floral array is usually a single flower head atop a long (6 to 10 inch) leafless hairy section of the upper stem, however the top may branch into 2 to 5 heads. The hair on stems and leaves and flower stalks is stiff.

The flowers have a hemispheric head composed of two types of florets: An outer band of ray florets that number 8 to 21, are neuter as to sex and have pink to purplish corollas and rays. The rays are 5 to 8 mm wide, short, slightly drooping, and are sparsely hairy on the back side. In the central hemisphere, which is 20 to 35 mm wide, there are up to 200 bisexual and fertile tubular disc florets whose corollas are yellowish while the five lobed tips are usually a darker purple. The lobes enclose the 5 stamens which tightly surround a single purple bifurcated style which is slightly exserted from the throat of the corolla. Like most Echinacea these disc florets become very prickly. The outside of the flower head is surrounded by a number of lanceolate shaped phyllaries, in several series, that are spreading and densely hairy.

Seed (Cypsela): Fertile disc florets produce a dry 4-angled smooth pyramidal shaped cypsela, 4 - 5 mm long, tan with the wider base a dark brown. These seeds are too large to be wind distributed very far from the parent plant so the plant does not spread far by seed. Seed germination requires 90 days of cold stratification. Best to put seed in the ground in the Fall and let Winter do the work.

Varieties: The literature sometimes lists two varieties, var. strigosa and var. angustifolia. Any differences between the two are not considered here and authorities such as Flora of North America (Ref.#W7) do not recognize the varieties.

Habitat: Narrow-leaved Coneflower grows from a fragile but very deep taproot, extending 4 to 6+ feet. It is not rhizomatous so the plant does not spread vegetatively. Propagation is best done by dividing the root crown when the plant is dormant or sowing seeds in late Fall. It grows best in dry well drained soils in full sun.

Names: The genus name, Echinacea, is from the Greek word echinos, a hedgehog, and alludes to the prickly central disc of these flowers. The species, angustifolia, means 'with narrow leaves'. The author name for the plant classification, from 1836, ‘DC’, refers to Augustin Pyramus de Candolle (1778-1841), Swiss botanist, who influenced Charles Darwin. He studied plants, began a systematic catalogue and has 2 genera named for him. The alternate common name of 'Blacksamson' is a reference to the woody root which has wedges of thick black woody parts.

Comparisons: The Pale Purple Coneflower, E. pallida, has narrower very long drooping rays, only 3 to 4 mm wide, that are paler in color - pink to reddish-purple; plus longer leaves, but the flower stalks and stems also have hair. The Eastern Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea, has ray floret rays that are 6 to 10 mm wide, the central disc is more flattened on top, there is much less hair, the leaves are broader and have teeth and the roots are fibrous.