Echinacea pallida (Pale Purple Coneflower)

Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. 3 vols.Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York. Vol. 3: 476. Provided by Kentucky Native Plant Society.

Where Commonly Found: Fields and meadows, CT, MA, ME.

How to Identify:
(For unfamiliar words: Wikipedia Glossary of Botanical Terms).
Go Botany Key for Echinacea pallida.
Missouri Botanical Garden’s description of Echinacea pallida.  Click on more images.

Flower Color:  Light purple. 
Flower Type:  Radial.  Single daisy composite flower at stem-top, 3″ across with a reddish brown cone of disk florets with 12-20 light purple drooping light purple ray floret surrounding.
Flower Time:  June – July.
Leaf Arrangement:  Alternate and basal.  Most of the leaves are at the base but there are a few alternate leaves up the lower 1/3 of the unbranched, stout central stem which is grayish or reddish green and densely covered with coarse white hairs.
Leaf Type:  Simple and entire.  Narrow, lanceolate, oblanceolate or ovate with smooth, often curled upward, covered with fine white hairs on upper and lower surfaces.  Leaves up to 8″ longs and 1-1/2″ wide, generally narrower than those of Echinacea purpurea.
Height: 2 ‘- 3’
Seed Collection:  Central cone turns black when seeds are ready.

Attracts:  Bees, Butterflies and Birds
Use: Garden or Naturalizing
Light:  Full Sun to Part Sun
Hardiness Zone:  3 – 10  USDA Zone Map
Soils:  Dry to Moist
Notes:  Echinacea pallida, Pale Purple Coneflower, bears striking narrow drooping petals of long-lasting flowers, that will reseed if allowed.  Noted as deer-resistant by UVM.
Naturalized in CT, MA, ME, NY, RI, native to Midwest and South. Biota of North America Program (BONAP) – North American Plant Atlas (NAPA).