Glancing through a garden catalog , you might think coneflower ( Echinacea ) come in a motley of color , from tomato loss to all shades of purple . But only hybrid coneflower are usable in a rainbow of semblance and size . coneflower that are the ancestors of modern hybrids generally feature petal in shades of purple . Only one species , the yellow coneflower ( Echinacea paradoxa ) , has sick yellow flower petal . All coneflower are North American natives and members of the daisy , or Compositae house . They are closely pertain to Rudbeckia , or black - eyed Susan , also popular in both species and hybrid form .

Characteristics

Purple and yellow coneflower have common trait . Unlike many daisy - type blossom that boast flat , key phonograph record , the coneflower ’s center is a rounded strobile human body . The petals , or ray , are foresightful and incline to droop . The flowers appear at the tops of tall stems , and the rough - textured , alternate leaves turn at the base of the plant and from the stems .

Purple Coneflower Species

Echinacea purpurea is the most common of the pruple coneflower , found in prairie environments from Saskatchawan due south and as far east as Georgia . It has been used extensively in crossbreeding . Echinacea pallida , the wan purple coneflower , sports downward - taper flower petal and a sharply pointed cone . It favors dry prairies and is endangered in some country . Narrowleaf coneflower ( Echinacea angustifolia ) spring up far west than other coinage . Its petals are closer to those of the pruple coneflower and its rounded phonograph recording is orange - brown . Echinacea atrorubens grows only in contiguous areas of Texas and Kansas and is distinguished by its bland leafage . The Tennessee coneflower , Echinacea tennessensis , has the slight petals of the pale purple coneflower , but is a bright color .

Yellow Coneflower

jaundiced coneflower , or Echinacea paradoxa , grow in the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks . The narrow-minded , drooping petals resemble those of Echinacea pallida in all but its color . The strobile is softly rounded , and the leaves are smooth . The plants grow to be about 3 human foot improbable .

Medicinal Uses

Echinacea beginning have long been used in herbal medicine and have attracted attention in forward-looking times as an herbal inhuman curative . medicine made from the ascendant purportedly increase resistance to all kinds of transmission and can be apply topically for skin problem such as boils . The source are used either fresh or dry .

Echinacea Culture

Purple and yellow-bellied echinaceas complement each other in the garden and attract butterflies and cross-pollinate insects and bird , which eat the seeds in the dusk and winter . They are low - sustentation , drought - large-minded plant that need little care once they are established in well - drained filth . The seedheads of some species and hybrids prevail through the wintertime .

References

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