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Echinacea laevigata
Also called Smooth Coneflower
A rhizomatous perennial wildflower of the eastern US Piedmont, growing to about 1.5 m with pink to purple daisy-like flowers in May to July. It is a federally listed threatened species, so grow it from nursery-propagated stock rather than wild collection.
Echinacea laevigata, the smooth purple coneflower, is a federally listed threatened species of plant found in the Piedmont of the eastern United States. Most populations are found on roadsides and other open areas with plenty of sunlight, often on calcium- and magnesium- rich soils.
The natural habitat for Echinacea laevigata is sunny openings in forested habitat. Open areas of this kind were made by wildfire, fires set by Native Americans, and the grazing activity of animals. The plant's preferred soils are rich in calcium and magnesium, and include limestone and marble, gabbro, and diabase. Plants that share the habitat included eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) and rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium). There are several species of oak, but these are stunted allowing sunlight to reach the understory. When human impacts began to reduce the amount of forest habitat remaining in the region, the plant survived in other open, sunny habitat types, such as cedar barrens, clearcuts, roadsides, cleared areas around utility equipment, and limestone bluffs. Two-thirds of the populations known since the plant was first discovered are now gone.
Blacksamson echinacea · Bush's purple coneflower · Eastern purple-coneflower · Purple coneflower
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Echinacea laevigata by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
