Echinacea - Purple cone-flower
Echinacea purpurea (Rudbeckia purpurea)
Height:
Up to 60cm (2ft)
Suitable for:
Open sunny position in well drained, fertile soil.
Summary:
This is an ornamental, free flowering perennial herb, the daisy like flowers are large
and purple coloured with orange cone shaped centres.
The large, daisy-like flowers are honey scented and appear in late summer.
They are borne on long stems and are excellent for cutting.
Dead heading will prolong the flowering period until the first frosts, providing welcome autumn colour in the border.
Medicinally the roots are used to make preparations to detox the circulatory and respiratory systems,
and also to stimulate the immune system.
This is one of the more wellknown herbal remedies increasingly popular today,
and echinacea tablets are common in the natural remedies section of chemists.
The name Echinos comes from the Greek for hedgehog,
describing the prickly scales on the central orange cone of each flower.