SCIENTIFIC NAME: Ratibida pinnata
COMMON NAME: Yellow Coneflower, Grey-headed Coneflower, Pinnate Prairie Coneflower, Grayhead Mexican Hat, Drooping Coneflower, Weary Susan
BLOOM TIME: July, Aug, Sept
PLANT PROFILE:
- Slender, hairy stems up to 5 ft. tall with each flower head having its own stalk.
- 5-10 yellow ray flowers droop downward about 2 in. long, circling a conical disk about ¾ in. tall.
- Disk starts out grey and turns to a grey, where it gets another common name of grey-headed coneflower.
- Crushed seeds have a distinct anise (licorice) or some say a minty scent.
- Common in north ¾ of state.
- Habitat: prairies & savannas, full sun to part shade, medium to dry-medium soil.
- Roots 18 in. to 5 ft. deep, making plant drought tolerant.
- Easy to transplant.
- Native Americans made tea from flowers & leaves.
- Mesquakie used the root to cure toothaches.
- Pioneers used like cedar chips to protect clothing from insect in storage.
- Also used to scent mattresses & deter insects.
INSECT/ANIMAL INTERACTIONS:
- Many kinds of insects visit the flowers.
- Bees, including Cuckoo bees, large Leaf-Cutting bees, Green Metallic bees, & other Halictine bees suck nectar & collet pollen.
- Insect visitors like asps, flies, small butterflies suck nectar. Some beetles feed on pollen.
- Caterpillars of Silvery Checkerspot butterfly & or moths feed on Yellow Coneflower.
- Goldfinches occasionally eat seeds.
- Some mammalian herbivores eat foliage & flowering stems, particularly groundhogs & livestock.