Flora of North America species comparison

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Echinacea angustifolia

blacksamson, blacksamson echinacea, narrow-leaf purple coneflower, purple coneflower
Habit Plants to 70 cm (roots usually fusiform, ± branched).
Herbage

moderately to densely hairy (induments relatively harsh, hairs spreading, ca. 1–2 mm).
Stems

mostly green to purplish.
Basal leaves

petioles 2–12 cm;

blades (1-), 3-, or (5-)nerved, elliptic to lanceolate, 7–30 × 0.5–2.5(–4) cm, bases cuneate to attenuate, margins entire (usually ciliate).
Peduncles

10–30 cm.
Receptacles

paleae 9–14 mm, tips purple, straight, sharp-pointed.
Ray corollas

pink to purplish, laminae reflexed, 15–40 × 5–8 mm, sparsely hairy abaxially.
Disc corollas

5–7+ mm, lobes usually purple.
Phyllaries

lanceolate to ovate, 6–12 × 1–2.5 mm.
Cypselae

often bicolored, tan proximally, dark brown banded distally, 4–5 mm, faces ± smooth, usually glabrous;

pappi to ca. 1 mm (major teeth 0–4).
Discs

conic to hemispheric, 15–30 × 20–35 mm.
2n

= 22, 44.

Echinacea angustifolia
Phenology Flowering late spring–mid summer.
Habitat dry prairies, barrens, rocky to sandy-clay soils
Elevation 100–1600 m (300–5200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CO; IA; KS; MN; MO; MT; ND; NE; NM; OK; SD; TX; WY; MB; SK
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

R. L. McGregor (1967, 1968) recognized Echinacea angustifolia var. strigosa as a complex of diploid and tetraploid populations ranging geographically from southeastern Kansas and central Oklahoma to north-central Texas. He noted that var. strigosa is distinguishable by its shorter stature, stems frequently branched, somewhat flexuous, distally strigose to strigose-hirsute that retain, in part, a green color upon drying. A hybrid origin for var. strigosa was suggested based on the morphologic intermediacy of natural populations compared to synthesized hybrids between typical E. angustifolia and E. atrorubens (McGregor 1968). Populations along the southern boundary of the range of var. strigosa are tetraploid. In their morphometric analyses, S. E. Binns et al. (2002) did not recognize var. strigosa; they found it indistinguishable from typical E. angustifolia.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 21.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Ecliptinae > Echinacea
Sibling taxa
E. atrorubens, E. laevigata, E. pallida, E. paradoxa, E. purpurea, E. sanguinea, E. simulata, E. tennesseensis
Synonyms E. angustifolia var. strigosa
Name authority de Candolle: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 5: 554. (1836)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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