Purple Coneflower

Purple Coneflower

Other common names:

• Black Samson
• Red Sunflower

Echinacea: from the Greek, meaning “sea urchin” or “hedgehog,” referring to the sharp, spiny chaff on the domelike center of this flower.

Purpurea: from the Greek, meaning “purple,” referring to the color of the ray flowers of some species

Daisy Family: Asteraceae (compositae)

Found in prairies and dry, open woods. Blooms late May to October. Other species commonly found in the area are E. angustifolia and E. pallida. E. pallida blooms May to June.

Purple coneflower grows from 2 to nearly 4 feet tall, but other species may be from 2-3 feet tall. The ovate to lineolate lower leaves have toothed edges and are very rough to the touch. The upper leaves and leaves of other species are without toothed edges. Leaves are 3-8 inches long and 1-3 inches wide.

The plant grows from a thick, grayish brown to black perennial root. The furrowed or ridged rootstock is ¼ to ½ inch in diameter.

The flower head has 12-20 spreading or drooping, purple, petal-like rays. Rays occasionally vary from purple to crimson and rarely are pale. Each ray is 1 ½ to 3 inches long. The center cone is more dome-shaped than cone-shaped, and it is rough and prickly to the touch. The entire flower may be 3 to 3 ½ inches across. The rays of a more southern species, E. paradoxa, are bright yellow.

Plains Indians favored the root of purple coneflower for snakebites, bee stings, headaches, stomach cramps, toothaches, enlarged glands such as mumps, sore throats and hydrophobia and doe distemper in horses. The Sioux used freshly scraped root (as a poultice) for snakebite and for the bite of a mad dog, and they chewed pieces of rootstalk for toothache.

American Indians discovered that the plant was somewhat like a burn preventative and enabled the body to endure extreme heat. Medicine men bathed their hands and arms in the juice, the picked out meat from boiling stew. Sometimes it was used prior to sweat baths and ritual feats such as immersing hands in scalding water or holding live coals in the mouth.

A smoke treatment was used for headache in humans and for distemper in horses.

Early doctors thought purple coneflower made the body more resistant to infection, and they often used it to induce profuse sweating. They believed it has a bright future as a medicinal drug source. Modern medicine still uses extracts from this plant for treating wounds and sore throats.

The root of E. angustifolia has been used by the Plains Indians as a pain killer for toothaches and sore throats, since chewing the root causes the throat, tongue and jaw to be numbed. It has also been used as a blood purifier and the treat snakebite, blood poisoning and cancer. Burns were bathed in E. pallida juice to give relief from pain.

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Prairie Smoke (Geum Triflorum)

Prairie Smoke (Geum Triflorum)

Other common names:

·         Three-Flowered Avens

·         Old Man’s Whiskers

·         Purple Avens

·         Red Avena

·         Long-Plumed Avens

Geum: New Latin; a plant of uncertain identity

Rose Family: Rosaceae

Description: This perennial wildflower forms a low leafy rosette about 6-10" across. Individual basal leaves are 3-5" long and 1-1¾" across; each leaf is odd-pinnate with 3-6 pairs of lateral leaflets and a terminal leaflet. There are also secondary leaflets that are inserted between some pairs of lateral leaflets; these secondary leaflets are quite small and poorly developed. These leaflets are oriented away from the center of the rosette, forming an oblique angle with the rachis (central stalk of the compound leaf). Individual leaflets are oblanceolate in shape, shallowly cleft, coarsely dentate, and slightly ciliate along their margins; they are somewhat variable and irregular. 

During the growing season, the upper leaf surface is medium green and sparsely covered with short appressed hairs, while the lower leaf surface is light green and hairy primarily along the rachis and major veins. Flowering stalks develop from the center of the rosette, becoming 5-10" tall at maturity. Each stalk terminates in an umbel of 3 nodding flowers. The flowering stalks (peduncles) are reddish green to reddish purple, terete, and densely hairy. There is a pair of leafy bracts at the base of each umbel that are deeply cleft with linear to linear-oblong segments. These bracts are reddish green to reddish purple and hairy. Sometimes pairs of leafy bractlets develop along the hairy pedicels of the flowers; these bractlets are also deeply cleft with linear segments.

Individual flowers are ½-1" long and similarly across. Each flower consists of 5 pale red to purplish red sepals, 5 white to pale red petals, a central cluster of pistils, and numerous stamens that are arranged in a ring. The sepals extend along the entire length of the flower and they are joined together at the base; each sepal is deltate in shape and hairy. Each flower also has 5 linear floral bracts (one floral bract between each adjacent pair of sepals).These floral bracts are the same color as the sepals and hairy;they extend outward from the sepals. The petals are largely hidden by the long sepals as the flower barely opens.

The blooming period can occur from early to late spring and lasts about 1-2 months. Afterwards, each flower becomes erect and develops a dense cluster of achenes with long feathery tails. These achenes are distributed by the wind. The root system is fibrous and rhizomatous. This wildflower can form small clonal colonies of plants from the rhizomes. A rosette of low basal leaves persists through the winter; these winter leaves are often reddish purple.

Range and Habitat: The native Prairie Smoke is restricted to northern Illinois, where it is uncommon. Elsewhere in the state, it is absent. In Illinois, habitats consist of dry gravelly prairies and hill prairies. In other states (e.g., Michigan), this plant has been found in sand prairies and alvars (a habitat that is dominated by limestone slabs). This conservative species is found in high quality prairies where the vegetation is neither too dense nor tall.

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