Echinacea pallida

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Echinacea pallida
Echinacea pallida (8).jpg
Status TNC G4.svg
Apparently Secure  (NatureServe) [1]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Echinacea
Species:
E. pallida
Binomial name
Echinacea pallida
Synonyms [2]
  • Rudbeckia pallidaNutt.
  • Brouneria pallidaBritton

Echinacea pallida, the pale purple coneflower, [3] is a species of herbaceous perennial plant in the family Asteraceae. It is sometimes grown in gardens and used for medicinal purposes. Its native range is the central region of the United States and Ontario, Canada.

Contents

Description

Echinacea pallida is similar to E. angustifolia , but plants often grow taller, ranging from 1.5 to 2.5 ft (45 to 75 cm) tall, with some growing 3 ft (90 cm) or more tall. Plants normally grow with one unbranched stem in the wild, but often produce multi-stemmed clumps in gardens. They have deep taproots that are spindle shaped, wider in the center and narrowing at the ends. Stems are green or mottled with purple and green. The leaves are elongated lanceolate or linear-lanceolate with three veins and are concentrated at the base of the stem. Flower head rays are narrow, linear, elongated, and drooping, ranging from 1 to 3 inches (2.5 to 7.6 cm) long. The flower heads are from 34 to 3 inches (1.9 to 7.6 cm) wide with pale rose-purple or nearly white ray florets. The flowers have white pollen. Echinacea pallida blooms from May into July. [3] The fruits are cypselae and are tan or bi-colored with angled edges. [3] [4]

Distribution

It is found in the Mississippi Valley, the southeastern Great Plains, and the region south of Lake Michigan. Most of the known populations are in the region from southern Wisconsin and Iowa south to Louisiana and eastern Texas, with additional reports (many of them likely from introductions) in the Southeastern United States, New England, New York, Michigan, and Ontario. [5]

Habitat and range

Echinacea pallida grows in prairies and prairie remnant sites and requires full sun exposure with well-draining soil. [6] While it prefers moist soils, it is drought tolerant due to its long taproot. It is often found next to roads. [7]

The state of Tennessee lists E. pallida as endangered, [8] and Wisconsin lists the species as threatened, [9] mostly due to habitat loss and over-collection of roots, which are made into herbal medicine. The use of Echinacea as a medicinal plant has not been demonstrated to have any positive health effects. [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] It is a larval host to the silvery checkerspot. [15] [ page needed ]

Related Research Articles

<i>Tradescantia</i> Genus of plants

Tradescantia is a genus of 85 species of herbaceous perennial wildflowers in the family Commelinaceae, native to the Americas from southern Canada to northern Argentina, including the West Indies. Members of the genus are known by many common names, including inchplant, wandering jew, spiderwort, dayflower and trad.

<i>Echinacea</i> Genus of flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae

Echinacea is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the daisy family. It has ten species, which are commonly called coneflowers. They are native only in eastern and central North America, where they grow in wet to dry prairies and open wooded areas. They have large, showy heads of composite flowers, blooming in summer. The generic name is derived from the Greek word ἐχῖνος, meaning "hedgehog", due to the spiny central disk. These flowering plants and their parts have different uses. Some species are cultivated in gardens for their showy flowers. Two of the species, E. tennesseensis and E. laevigata, were formerly listed in the United States as endangered species; E. tennesseensis has been delisted due to recovery and E. laevigata is now listed as threatened.

<i>Digitalis purpurea</i> Toxic flowering plant in the family Plantaginaceae

Digitalis purpurea, the foxglove or common foxglove, is a toxic species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae, native to and widespread throughout most of temperate Europe. It has also naturalized in parts of North America, as well as some other temperate regions. The plant is a popular garden subject, with many cultivars available. It is the original source of the heart medicine digoxin. This biennial plant grows as a rosette of leaves in the first year after sowing, before flowering and then dying in the second year. It generally produces enough seeds so that new plants will continue to grow in a garden setting.

<i>Tradescantia pallida</i> Species of flowering plant

Tradescantia pallida is a species of spiderwort native to the Gulf Coast region of eastern Mexico. It is a perennial herbaceous species with a trailing habit. The cultivar T. pallida 'Purpurea', commonly called purple heart or purple queen, is widely grown as a houseplant, outdoor container plant, or a garden groundcover. The species has been proven useful in indicating and removing air and soil pollutants and has also been used in food technology.

<i>Echinacea angustifolia</i> Species of flowering plant

Echinacea angustifolia, the narrow-leaved purple coneflower or blacksamson echinacea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to North America, where it is widespread across much of the Great Plains of central Canada and the central United States, with additional populations in surrounding regions.

<i>Rudbeckia</i> Genus of flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae

Rudbeckia is a plant genus in the Asteraceae or composite family. Rudbeckia flowers feature a prominent, raised central disc in black, brown shades of green, and in-between tones, giving rise to their familiar common names of coneflowers and black-eyed-susans. All are native to North America, and many species are cultivated in gardens for their showy yellow or gold flower heads that bloom in mid to late summer.

<i>Dracopis</i> Genus of flowering plants

Dracopis is a monotypic genus with Dracopis amplexicaulis the sole species. It is native to North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calcareous glade</span> Type of ecological community found in the US

A calcareous glade is a type of ecological community that is found in the central Eastern United States. Calcareous glades occur where bedrock such as limestone occurs near or at the surface, and have very shallow and little soil development. Due to the shallow soil and the extreme conditions created by it, trees are often unable to grow in the glades. This creates a habitat that is usually sunny, dry, and hot. Calcareous glade vegetation is more similar to that of a desert habitat than a grassland, being dominated by small spring annuals with occasional geophytic or succulent perennials.

<i>Echinacea tennesseensis</i> Species of flowering plant

Echinacea tennesseensis, also known as the Tennessee coneflower or Tennessee purple coneflower, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, endemic to the cedar glades of the central portion of the U.S. state of Tennessee.

<i>Echinacea purpurea</i> Species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae

Echinacea purpurea, the eastern purple coneflower, purple coneflower, hedgehog coneflower, or echinacea, is a North American species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to parts of eastern North America and present to some extent in the wild in much of the eastern, southeastern and midwestern United States as well as in the Canadian Province of Ontario. It is most common in the Ozarks and in the Mississippi/Ohio Valley. Its habitats include dry open woods, prairies and barrens.

<i>Echinacea laevigata</i> Species of flowering plant

Echinacea laevigata, the smooth purple coneflower, is a federally listed threatened species of plant found in the Piedmont of the eastern United States. Most populations are found on roadsides and other open areas with plenty of sunlight, often on calcium- and magnesium- rich soils.

<i>Echinacea atrorubens</i> Species of flowering plant

Echinacea atrorubens, called the Topeka purple coneflower, is a North American species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to eastern Kansas, Oklahoma, and eastern Texas in the south-central United States. It is found growing in dry soils around limestone or sandstone outcroppings and prairies.

<i>Echinacea simulata</i> Species of flowering plant

Echinacea simulata, commonly called wavy leaf purple coneflower, glade coneflower, or prairie purple coneflower, is a species of perennial flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to the east-central states of the United States. Its natural habitat is dry, calcareous, open areas such as barrens and woodlands.

<i>Echinacea paradoxa</i> Species of flowering plant

Echinacea paradoxa, the yellow coneflower, Bush's purple coneflower, or Ozark coneflower, is a North American species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to southern Missouri, Arkansas, and south-central Oklahoma. It is listed as threatened in Arkansas.

<i>Echinacea sanguinea</i> Species of flowering plant

Echinacea sanguinea, the sanguine purple coneflower, is a herbaceous perennial native to open sandy fields and open pine woods and prairies in eastern Texas, southeastern Oklahoma, Louisiana, and southwestern Arkansas. It is the southernmost Echinacea species. The specific epithet sanguinea, which is Latin for "blood", refers to the color of the petals.

<i>Lespedeza leptostachya</i> Species of plant

Lespedeza leptostachya is a rare species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names prairie lespedeza and prairie bush-clover. It occurs in the Upper Midwest region of the United States. The flowers are creamy-white to purplish and arranged into a narrow terminal spikes.

<i>Dalea purpurea</i> Species of flowering plant in the pea family

Dalea purpurea is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known as purple prairie clover. Native to central North America, purple prairie clover is a relatively common member of the Great Plains and prairie ecosystems. It blooms in the summer with dense spikes of bright purple flowers that attract many species of insects.

<i>Castilleja pallida</i> Species of paintbrush flower

Castilleja pallida, common name pale Indian paintbrush, is a plant species native to Alaska, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and across Russia to the Ural Mountains and Kazakhstan.

<i>Helianthus eggertii</i> Species of sunflower

Helianthus eggertii, known as Eggert's sunflower, is a North American species of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. It is native to Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Alabama. It is best known as one of the few plants to have been delisted under the Endangered Species Act because of the species' recovery. It was described by John Kunkel Small in 1903.

<i>Iris pallida <span style="font-style:normal;">subsp.</span> cengialti</i> Species of plant

Iris pallida subsp. cengialti is a subspecies in the genus Iris, it is also in the subgenus Iris. It is a rhizomatous perennial, from Italy and Slovenia. It has yellowish-green, glaucous, lanceolate or ensiform leaves, tall stem, green flushed with purple spathes, 2 short branches, 2–3 scented flowers, in shades of violet, blue-violet, deep purple, blue-purple, deep blue-purple, pale purple, deep blue, to mid-blue. It has a yellow or orange tipped beard. It was originally published as Iris cengialti but then re-classified as a subspecies of Iris pallida, and known as Iris pallida subsp. cengialti, but it is often still called Iris cengialti. It is cultivated as an ornamental garden plant in temperate regions.

References

  1. NatureServe (1 September 2023). "Echinacea pallida". NatureServe Network Biodiversity Location Data accessed through NatureServe Explorer. Arlington, Virginia: NatureServe. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  2. "Echinacea pallida". The Global Compositae Checklist (GCC) via The Plant List. Note that this website has been superseded by World Flora Online
  3. 1 2 3 Urbatsch, Lowell E.; Neubig, Kurt M.; Cox, Patricia B. (2006). "Echinacea pallida". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 21. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  4. Britton, N., & Brown, A. (1913). An illustrated flora of the Northern United States, Canada from Newfoundland to the parallel of the southern boundary of Virginia, and from the Atlantic Ocean westward to the 102nd meridian. [S.l.]: Scribner. ISBN   0-486-22644-1
  5. "Echinacea pallida". County-level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2014.
  6. "Pale Purple Coneflower (Echinacea pallida)". apps.dnr.wi.gov. Retrieved 2024-12-06.
  7. "Echinacea pallida (Pale Purple Coneflower) | North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox". plants.ces.ncsu.edu. Retrieved 2024-12-06.
  8. "Rare Species by County". Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  9. "Wisconsin's Endangered and Threatened Species List". Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. June 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  10. Turner RB, Bauer R, Woelkart K, Hulsey TC, Gangemi JD (July 2005). "An evaluation of Echinacea angustifolia in experimental rhinovirus infections". N. Engl. J. Med. 353 (4): 341–8. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa044441 . PMID   16049208.
  11. Schwarz E, Metzler J, Diedrich JP, Freudenstein J, Bode C, Bode JC (2002). "Oral administration of freshly expressed juice of Echinacea purpurea herbs fail to stimulate the nonspecific immune response in healthy young men: results of a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study". J. Immunother. 25 (5): 413–20. doi:10.1097/00002371-200209000-00005. PMID   12218779. S2CID   23051179.
  12. Barrett BP, Brown RL, Locken K, Maberry R, Bobula JA, D'Alessio D (December 2002). "Treatment of the common cold with unrefined echinacea. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial". Ann. Intern. Med. 137 (12): 939–46. doi:10.1001/archinte.137.7.939. PMID   12484708.
  13. Yale SH, Liu K (June 2004). "Echinacea purpurea therapy for the treatment of the common cold: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial". Arch. Intern. Med. 164 (11): 1237–41. doi:10.1001/archinte.164.11.1237. PMID   15197051.
  14. Echinacea (Echinacea purpurea, Echinacea angustifolia, Echinacea pallida)[NCCIH Herbs at a Glance]
  15. The Xerces Society (2016), Gardening for Butterflies: How You Can Attract and Protect Beautiful, Beneficial Insects, Timber Press. ISBN   978-1604695984