Eastern Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench)
Also known as purple coneflower.
↑Summary
A perennial with a conspicuous flower with pale-purple rays. The most widespread of the Echinacea species, and the one most widely cultivated.
↑Range - Expand
| Legend | Color |
| Native | |
| Introduced | |
| Expanded | |
| Native or Not Present | |
| Introduced or Not Present | |
| Native or Expanded | |
| Expanded or Not Present | |
| Native or Expanded or Not Present |
This tentative map is based on our own research. It may have limited data on Canada and/or Mexico, and there is some subjectivity in our assignment of plants as introduced vs. expanded. Read more in this blog post.
Although this plant occurs somewhere in each of these regions, it may only occur in a small part of some or all of them.
Outside its native range, this species is widely cultivated in gardens and sometimes used in ecological restoration projects. It sometimes establishes in the wild; we have marked such populations expanded everywhere except the isolated population in Colorado, which we marked introduced because it is separated by a much larger distance.
↑Uses
Widely planted as a landscaping plant. Numerous cultivars exist, including ones with considerably different flower colors (including white, and more consistent, bright pink) and more compact growth habits.
Used in herbal medicine, including in commercially-available herbal teas and supplements, for supposed stimulation of the immune system.
↑Related Plants
There are several Echinacea species in North America, all native, and many overlapping with this one in range.
The broader Heliantheae tribe, a subdivision of the Asteraceae family, contains numerous other plants as well.
↑Links & External Resources
• Echinacea purpurea (Purple Coneflower) | Illinois Wildflowers (About This Site)
• Echinacea purpurea (Eastern Purple Coneflower) | USDA PLANTS Database (About This Site)
• Echinacea purpurea | Go Botany (About This Site)
• Echinacea purpurea (Purple Coneflower) | Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder (About This Site)
• Echinacea purpurea | Biota of North America Project (BONAP) (About This Site)
• Echinacea purpurea | NatureServe Explorer (About This Site)
• Echinacea purpurea | Flora of North America (About This Site)
• Echinacea purpurea | Missouri Plants (About This Site)
• Eastern Purple Coneflower | Maryland Biodiversity Project (About This Site)
• Echinacea purpurea (Eastern Purple Coneflower) | Minnesota Wildflowers (About This Site)
• Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench (Purple Coneflower) | Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora (About This Site)
