The dome of the purple coneflower is dominated by multiple small yellow florets
When you first look at this photo, you might think to yourself, “what in the world am I looking at?”, “is this from planet Earth?”, “what are these red and orange spikes?”, and more. Surprisingly, this is a common flower that is planted in many parts of the world called a purple coneflower. Sometimes when you zoom in really close on something, you can start to move into an abstraction of its original form. As I took this photo, I really wanted to capture the beauty that existed on the macro level, and hopefully you’ll agree that this photo helps to do that.
The purple coneflower is a popular perennial that is often used as an ornamental flower in commercial and residential gardens. It grows to have stems of about two to four feet tall. There are rough scattered leaves that grow along the stem that become smaller as they go up. At the end of these stems are the flowers. There is one flower at the top of each stem. They have a domed shape with spiny centers of varying colors and lavender petals that seem to fall from the center. The dome of the purple coneflower is dominated by multiple small yellow florets. There is also a ring of pink or purple ligulate, “at the junction of the leaf and leafstalk”, florets.
We featured a relative of the purple coneflower in November 2023. They both belong to the genus Echinacea, which has its named derived from the Greek word meaning “spiny one”. The scientific name for this plant is Echinacea purpurea. It can also be seen labeled as Brauneria purpurea and Rudbeckia purpurea.
The purple coneflower is a member of the Asteraceae family. Included in this family are asters, daisies, composites, and sunflowers. The Asteraceae family generally have taproots, dense flower heads called capitula, and alternate, opposite, or whorled leaves. The most distinguishing characteristic is their inflorescence, known as a capitula. They look superficially like one flower, but are made up of many florets.
The most distinguishing characteristic is their inflorescence, known as a capitula
Did you know?
- Purple coneflowers are often used in making an herbal tea that is said to strengthen the immune system. Stores often sell purple coneflower extract with the same purported effects.
- There are more than 32,000 known species in the Asteraceae family!
- Sunflowers, which are a member of the Asteraceae family, can have up to 4,000 individual florets on one head!
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