Purple Coneflower

Purple Coneflower

Common name: Purple coneflower

Scientific name: Echinacea purpurea

Family: Aster, Daisy, or Composite; Asteraceae

Bloom period: May through July. Some hardy plants may continue to bloom until the frost in the fall.

Where to see it: Purple coneflowers are scattered throughout all three butterfly gardens.

What to look for: Showy, daisy-like blooms with vibrant, purplish-pink “petals” bloom from June through the fall. Each bloom is made up of hundreds of individual flowers. Each “petal” is a single ray flower. The brown cone in the center of each bloom comprises hundreds of tiny disc flowers.

Benefit to pollinators: These flowers are especially attractive to butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds. Dried seeds in the cone feed birds in winter.

More information: This species of purple coneflower is native to the Eastern U.S. A closely related species of purple coneflower, Echinacea angustifolia, grows west of the Mississippi river, and was used extensively for medicine by Native Americans. Echinacea—either species—is one of the most important and well-known medicinal plants in the world, with immunostimulatory and anti-inflammatory properties, especially useful for alleviating cold symptoms.