Purple Coneflower

Echinacea angustifolia

Purple Coneflower (Echinacea angustifolia) is a native perennial of the sunflower family, with pink to pale purple rays that hang down from a domed, spiny brown cone. It blooms in June and July on dry, open prairie and rocky slopes, and the National Park Service lists it at Jewel Cave, Wind Cave and Devils Tower in the Black Hills.

Free photos from other sources

Purple Coneflower: Drooping pink rays around a spiny red-brown cone — Purple Coneflower. National Park Service, Wind Cave National Park, Public Domain. Get it at the source

Purple Coneflower: Flower head with a butterfly on the cone — A Butterfly Magnet. USFWS Mountain-Prairie (Laura Hubers / USFWS), CC BY 2.0, resized. Get it at the source

Purple Coneflower: Whole plant, several flowering stems above a clump of narrow leaves — Echinacea angustifolia - Narrow-leaved Purple Coneflower (7-15-24) 01. Jasper Shide, CC0 1.0. Get it at the source

Purple Coneflower: Rough, narrow, lance-shaped leaves on a hairy stem — Echinacea angustifolia - Narrow-leaved Purple Coneflower 07. Jasper Shide, CC0 1.0. Get it at the source

Purple Coneflower: Last year's dark, spiny seed heads above this summer's flowers — Echinacea angustifolia - Narrow-leaved Purple Coneflower 05. Jasper Shide, CC0 1.0. Get it at the source

Purple Coneflower: A single plant in bloom in dry grassland — Pale Purple-Coneflower (Echinacea angustifolia) 2016-07-12 963. Chris Light, CC BY-SA 4.0, resized. Get it at the source

Quick facts
Family	Asteraceae · Aster
Status	Native perennial
Blooms	June into July, with a few into August
Height	10–60 cm (4–24 in)
Where	Dry, open, often rocky prairie, grassy hillsides and open pine edges in the foothills
Also called	Narrow-leaved Purple Coneflower, Black Samson, Blacksamson Echinacea, Blackroot, Kansas Snakeroot, ičháȟpe hú (Lakota), uŋglákčapi (Lakota)
Synonym	Echinacea pallida var. angustifolia, Brauneria angustifolia
Toxicity	Handling the plants and seeds often irritates the skin.
Traditional use	Sitting Bull College's 1998 Culturally Important Plants of the Lakota says the root and seed heads were chewed for toothache and sore throat, and the chewed root was put on snake, spider and bee bites and on burns.

Roots, seeds & germination

Root: A thick, woody, often branched taproot that can reach about 1.5–2 m (5–6.5 ft) deep, which lets the plant ride out drought.

Seed: Dark, four-sided achenes about 4–5 mm (1/6 in) long, with a short, papery, toothed crown. They fall slowly from the spiny old cone from fall into the next summer. Plants rarely flower before their third year.

Germination: The seed needs a cold, moist period before it sprouts. The USDA plant guide recommends about 12 weeks of cold stratification, and SDSU suggests 2–4 months in damp peat moss in the refrigerator, after which seedlings usually appear in about two weeks.

How do you identify Purple Coneflower?

Look for one flower head on each long, stiff stalk, with 12–20 pink to pale purple rays, 2–4 cm (¾–1½ in) long, drooping around a domed, prickly cone of brownish-purple disk flowers. The leaves are narrow and lance-shaped, rough with stiff hairs, with three to five veins running lengthwise. Prairie Coneflower has a tall, thimble-shaped cone and yellow or red-brown rays, and Black-eyed Susan has golden rays. The dark, spiny cones stand through winter.

When does it bloom?

June into July, with a few into August.

Where does it grow?

Dry, open prairie and rocky hillsides with well-drained soil and full sun, including mixed-grass prairie, open ponderosa pine edges and drainages. In the Black Hills it is recorded from the grassy foothills and open parks at Wind Cave, Jewel Cave and Devils Tower. SDSU says it grows throughout South Dakota.