Echinacea paradoxa, the yellow coneflower, Bush's purple coneflower,Echinacea paradoxa United States Department of Agriculture plants profile 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.Flora of North America, Echinacea paradoxa (Norton) Britton
Description Echinacea paradoxa is a perennial herb up to tall with multiple, slightly hairy stems arising from the rootstock. Most of the leaves are basal leaves with smooth margins. They are alternate, becoming shorter higher up on the stem, and they are completely absent on the upper two-thirds of the stem. The basal leaves are long and narrowly elliptic to lanceolate, and the stem leaves are long and linear to narrowly elliptic or narrowly lanceolate.
One plant can produce several flower heads, each with white, pink, or yellow ray florets surrounding a central head of numerous disk florets.Britton, Nathaniel Lord & Brown, Addison 1913. illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British possessions : from Newfoundland to the parallel of the southern boundary of Virginia, and from the Atlantic Ocean westward to the 102d meridian 3: 476 description in English plus lline drawingNorton, John Bitting Smith 1902. Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis 12(4): 40–41 description and commentary in English, as Brauneria paradoxaNorton, John Bitting Smith 1902. Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis 12(4): plate VIII (8) line drawing of Echinacea paradoxa as Brauneria paradoxa Each flower head is about across. The central head is dome-shaped and dark reddish brown to nearly black. It is prickly to the touch. It blooms in May and June.
Taxonomy Varieties Echinacea paradoxa var. paradoxa - yellow rays - Arkansas and Missouri - yellow coneflower or Ozark coneflower Echinacea paradoxa var.neglecta - pink or white rays Oklahoma and Texas - Bush's purple coneflower
Echinacea paradoxa var. paradoxa has a baseline chromosome number of x = 11, like most Echinacea plants.Smith, E. B., P. E. Hyatt, and K. Golden. 1992. Documented chromosome numbers 1992: 1. Chromosome numbers of some Arkansas flowering plants. Sida 15:145–146.
Distribution and habitat Echinacea paradoxa var. paradoxa, or yellow coneflower, is endemic to the Ozarks of Missouri and Arkansas. It is listed as imperiled in Arkansas.
Echinacea paradoxa var. neglecta, or Bush's purple coneflower, is currently only known to exist in the wild in the Arbuckle Mountains region of southeastern Oklahoma. One isolated population was reported from Montgomery County in eastern Texas. It is listed as critically imperiled in Oklahoma and presumed extirpated in Texas.
Habitats include partially sunny to sunny savannas, glades, limestone outcroppings, barrens, open hillsides, and bald knobs.
Gallery
References