The coneflowers have arrived, and Bogardus is in for a surprise! These amazing flowering plants belong to the genus Echinacea, and are in the family of daisies (Asteraceae). The 10 species of Echinacea are known as “coneflowers,” and are native to eastern and central North America; Rudbeckia, the genus of black-eyed susans, is closely related. Probably the best-known of the species is Echinacea purpura, purple echinacea. The growing range for some of the species extends deep into Mexico, although a lot of US maps weirdly show a boundary in Texas.
Echinacea has a long history of use in traditional medicine for treating infections, pain, and wounds; Traditional use included external application (insect bites, burns, wounds), chewing of roots (throat and tooth infections) and internal use (cough, pain, snake bites, stomach cramps). Some Plains tribes use Echinacea for cold symptoms; the Kiowa and Cheyenne use it for sore throats, and many nations used it as a pain medication. It’s not clear it helps with colds, but an overview of testing (meta-analysis) done in 2025 indicates that Echinacea purpura may in fact be good for respiratory diseases and ear inflammation–so it may be one of the many anti-inflammatory plants needing further research. My mom and I swear by echinacea tea for warding off colds, anyway!
The Latin name of the genus, Echinacea, comes from the Greek word echinos (ἐχῖνος), “hedgehog.” This is because of the central capitulum of the flower, which looks sort of like that spiny little animal. In reality,
the ‘flower’ of the Echinacea is actually a cluster of dozens of flowers, or disc florets, arranged in a whirl on a cone shaped flower receptacle. These individual flowers together make up what is known as a capitulum. Echinacea, like all members of the Asteraceae family, have a capitulum surrounded by a whirl of several infertile ray florets. The ray florets are commonly thought of as ‘petals’, surrounding the central ‘head’ of the Echinacea ‘flower’.
See the amazing Outdoor Learning Lab page, https://www.gcc.mass.edu/oll/plants/purple-cone-flower/ , for a lot more of the real science behind this composite flower, which is a characteristic of the daisy (asteraceae) family. The Dr. Robert L. Pura Outdoor Learning Laboratory is based at Greenfield Community College, in Greenfield, Massachusetts.
In other news, the two sister beds on Nagle are looking amazing–Ellen reports that they are twinning. Possible? You decide:
