Echinacea tennesseensis, “Tennessee purple coneflower”
Asteraceae
Snapped this picture at Missouri Botanical Garden in summer 2018 with Madeline Wright and Derick Asahl.
Edemic to the cedar glades of the central portion of Tennessee. It has been hypothesized that an ancestral Echinacea species spread into middle Tennessee during the hypsothermal period following the last ice age, when conditions were drier and prairies extended into much of the central eastern U.S. that is now forested. As conditions became wetter, the Echinacea populations became isolated on the prairie-like habitat of the cedar glades which were eventually surrounded by forest. This isolation resulted in divergence and speciation of E. tennesseensis.
A noticeable characteristic is its generally erect ray flowers, in contrast to the more drooping rays of its most similar congener, E. angustifolia (widespread throughout the prairie of the central U.S.) and other common Echinacea species such as E. purpurea.
The Tennessee coneflower was once a federally listed endangered plant species and its recovery has been aided by the purchase of habitat by TNC and the State of Tennessee. The Fish and Wildlife Service proposed that this plant be removed from the endangered species list because all the former threats to the species are eliminated or reduced. The Tennessee coneflower was delisted in 2011.
Paradise Ecological Services 