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Species Image Gallery (opens in a new window) |
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| THE SUNFLOWER FAMILY | |||||||||
| The sunflowers are found around the
globe in many different places, from temperate climates, like in Saskatchewan,
to mountains or in dry regions. The sunflower family is very large and contains
about 19,000 species! As you can imagine, the plants in this family can
look very different from one another. The sunflowers can be shrubs or herbs,
with many different leaf shapes and flower colours. One thing that is common
to all sunflowers is the type of flower arrangement. In this family, there
are many flowers grouped together into a head, like the one you see on a
daisy. It looks like one flower from a distance, but when you get close
you will see that it is actually made up of many, small flowers. The head
may have ray flowers on the outside and disc flowers on the inside, or only
one of the two kinds. Many of the seeds, like the dandelion, have a fluffy
structure attached to the seed. This is called the pappus and helps the
seeds to spread in the wind. You probably know a lot of plants in the sunflower family. Sunflowers can be plants you eat or plants that you may grow in the yard. For example, did you know that lettuce is from the sunflower family? So are the marigolds in the garden! Maybe you have heard of Echinacea? It is a plant in the sunflower family that is used to make medicine. Some of the sunflowers are also weeds, like the dandelion. |
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| PRAIRIE PURPLE CONEFLOWER | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Echinacea angustifolia var. angustifolia | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Prairie purple coneflower grows 10 to 50 cm tall. The stem has a thick, woody bottom with overlapping leaf bases. The stem can be reddish and has short, stiff hairs. The rough hairy leaves are 2 to 20 cm long and 1 to 4 cm wide. There is only one head per plant. The bracts point downwards, are covered in rough hairs, and are in two rows. The ray flowers are purple and have a notch at the tip of the petal. The disc flowers are yellowish and have dry bracts in between them. The fruits are 4 to 5 mm long and the pappus is crown-like. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Prairie purple coneflower grows on dry prairie slopes and along roadsides. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This plant is found in east-central to southern Saskatchewan in the Mixed Grassland, Moist Mixed Grassland, and Aspen Parkland Ecoregions. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| Prairie purple coneflower is more common to the south in the United States and has just recently appeared in Saskatchewan; hence its vulnerable status in the province. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY PRAIRIE PURPLE CONEFLOWER | |||||||||
| * Are rays purple? * Are the heads large and only one per stem? * Are the bracts pointing downwards and covered in rough hairs? * Did you find it in southern Saskatchewan? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found prairie purple coneflower! | |||||||||
