Echinacea angustifolia
$5.49 – $9.89
Description
Key Information:
Soil: Mesic (Medium) to Xeric (Dry). Drought tolerant.
Sun: Full Sun
Height: 1-2 feet
Bloom Color: Pink – Lavender
Bloom Season: July
More Details:
Suggested Uses: Narrow Purple Coneflower is a beautiful coneflower is found on upland prairies. It is a great restoration plant and a great choice for a low-maintenance garden. It has big, beautiful, sturdy flowers that are useful in both fresh and dried bouquets. Grows well on sandy and gravelly soils! This is a perennial with a very long lifespan and a deep root system.
Native Range: Native to the Great Plains including western Minnesota. Echinacea angustifolia is the purple coneflower that is native to Minnesota while its more popular relative, Echinacea purpurea, is not. E. purpurea was used in many early prairie restoration projects in Minnesota in the 1980s and can be found in some reconstructed prairies throughout the state.
Pollinators: It is attractive to bees, hummingbirds, butterflies and birds. Favored by the federally endangered Rusty Patched Bumble Bee (Bombus affinis). This is a very important nectar source for adult monarch butterflies. Attracts goldfinches. Toxic to mosquitos and houseflies.
Flowers: Flowers are composite. Central disk flowers create a sharp, bristly cone in the middle surrounded by light purple ray flowers. These flowers ripen and dry into a very spiky seed head. Seeds are ready to collect when the stem beneath the flower dries and turns brown.
Leaves: Leaves are basal, long and narrow and quite rough to the touch!
Interesting Facts:
Medicinal Uses: Today, Echinacea is used in many over-the-counter immune system boosters. It is believed to ward off colds and the flu. Recent studies show that Echinacea may have anti-inflammatory properties. In traditional and contemporary Lakota medicine, Ičháȟpe hú is prepared in a variety of ways to treat a wide variety ailments. Read more from Linda Black Elk and Wilbur Flying By Sr. here. It was also used to combat mumps and smallpox epidemics brought by Europeans beginning in the 16th century.
Name: Echinacea is from the Greek word for hedgehog. It refers to the spiny center of the flower.
Other Names: Kansas Snakeroot, Echinacea, Snakeroot, Purple Coneflower, Scurvy Root, Comb Flower, Black Sampson, and Hedge Hog.
More information: USDA plant profile
Additional information
Weight | 2 lbs |
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Size | 6-pack, 3.5" pots, 5.75" pots, Seed Packets (at least 25 seeds) |
Color | |
Characteristics | Full Sun, Dry Soil, Mesic Soil, Summer Blooming, Short Height |
Uses | Drought Tolerant, Attract Bees, Attract Birds, Attract Butterflies, Sandy Soil, Cut Flowers |