Echinacea angustifolia
Echinacea angustifolia, the narrow-leaved purple coneflower or blacksamson echinacea,[2] 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.[3]
| Echinacea angustifolia | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Asterales |
| Family: | Asteraceae |
| Genus: | Echinacea |
| Species: | E. angustifolia |
| Binomial name | |
| Echinacea angustifolia | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
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E. angustifolia is a perennial herb with spindle-shaped taproots that are often branched. The stems and leaves are moderately to densely hairy. The plant produces flower heads each at the end of a long peduncle. Each flower head contains 8–21 pink or purple ray florets plus 80–250 orange disc florets.[2]
Echinacea angustifolia blooms in late spring to mid-summer. Two subspecies are used by some botanists, but are regarded as illegitimate by Flora of North America (FNA) and Plants of the World Online (POWO):[4][5][6][1]
- Echinacea angustifolia subsp. angustifolia is native to central Canada and the central United States from Saskatchewan and Manitoba in the north to New Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana in the south.[7]
- Echinacea angustifolia subsp. strigosa has a more limited range in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana.[8]
Morphology
The word "Echinacea" is derived from the Greek word "echinos" which means sea urchin or hedgehog; a feature that can be observed in the flower head of the plant.[9]
Echinacea angustifolia is about 10–50 cm in length.
The plant consists of white to pink or deep purple flower petals that characteristically wilt downwards, while the ray florets of the flower head range from green to red-brown in color.[9] The leaves are dark green and can be oblong-lanceolate or elliptical in shape.[9] The plant has pubescent stems with rhizomes present underground.
Reproduction and life cycle
The plant does not self pollinate and requires assistance from bee pollinators in the reproduction process.[10] In Echinacea angustifolia there is greater success in pollination between mates that are at a closer proximity between one another. Echinacea angustifolia is an herbaceous perennial plant, producing flowers and living more than two years at a time.[10] The plant is known to grow at a slow rate and is drought-resistant to help the plant survive in its temperate grassland habitat.[9]
Chemistry
Greater root density is observed in Echinacea angustifolia growing in higher latitude, in turn, producing a greater quantity of polyphenols and alkylamides available in the root extract.[11]
Although it is used in herbal medicine there is mixed consensus that it is effective or safe for treating disease.[12][13]
Range and habitat
Echinacea angustifolia grows in the drier parts of the tallgrass prairie, the mixed grass prairie, and the shortgrass prairie in North America, in a range of soils from rocky to sandy-clay.[6] It is recorded by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS database (PLANTS) as growing in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Manitoba, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Saskatchewan, South Dakota, Texas, Wyoming.[14] The FNA largely agrees with this, but do not record it in New York and PLANTS only records it in Monroe County, NY.[6]
Cultivation
The wildflower gardening author Claude A. Barr regarded narrow-leaved purple coneflower as, "bold, spectacular, and beautiful." Though he did disagree with the common name, pointing out that it is more pink than purple in most cases. Though gravelly or stony soil is a preference of the plant in the wild, they survive in normal garden soil provided they are not crowded by other plants. Most often it is propagated by seed, but can also be grown from around 10 centimeter sections of taproot from younger plants. They are set upright under 2–3 centimeters of soil with controlled moisture to start new root and top growth.[15]
References
- POWO (2023). "Echinacea angustifolia DC". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
- Flora of North America, Narrow-leaved purple coneflower, blacksamson echinacea, Echinacea angustifolia de Candolle in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 5: 554. 1836.
- Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
- McGregor, Ronald Leighton 1968. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 70(3): 368–369
- Tropicos, Echinacea angustifolia var. strigosa McGregor
- Urbatsch, Lowell E.; Neubig, Kurt M.; Cox, Patricia B. (6 November 2020). " Echinacea angustifolia - FNA". Flora of North America. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
- USDA, NRCS (2023). "Echinacea angustifolia var. angustifolia". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
- USDA, NRCS (2023). "Echinacea angustifolia var. strigosa". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
- Vaverkova, Stefania, Mistríková, Ingrid, and Vaverková, Štefánia. "Morphology and Anatomy of Echinacea Purpurea, E. Angustifolia, E. Pallida and Parthenium Integrifolium." Biologia 62.1 (2007): 2-5. Web.
- Ison, J.L., Wagenius, S., Reitz, D. and Ashley, M.V. (2014), Mating between Echinacea angustifolia (Asteraceae) individuals increases with their flowering synchrony and spatial proximity. American Journal of Botany, 101: 180-189. doi:10.3732/ajb.1300065
- Aiello, Nicola et al. “Evaluation of the Farming Potential of Echinacea Angustifolia DC. Accessions Grown in Italy by Root-Marker Compound Content and Morphological Trait Analyses.” Plants (Basel, Switzerland) vol. 9,7 873. 9 Jul. 2020, doi:10.3390/plants9070873
- "Echinacea". Drugs.com. 8 April 2021. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
- Echinacea angustifolia. United States Department of Agriculture NRCS Plant Guide.
- USDA, NRCS (2023). "Echinacea angustifolia". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
- Barr, Claude A. (1983). Jewels of the plains : wild flowers of the Great Plains grasslands and hills. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. p. 69. ISBN 0-8166-1127-0.
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