COMPOSITE FAMILY COMPOSITAE — 
NARROW-LEAVED PURPLE CONEFLOWER 
Brauneria angustifolia (DC.) Heller 
Three Purple Coneflowers occur in Illinois and since they 
are often confused their differences may well be noted. All are 
handsome perennials with thick black roots and stout stems 
which are naked near the top and 
bear a single large head of many 
flowers. Usually ray and disk 
flowers are purple and only the 
disk flowers produce akenes. 
The bracts of the involucre are 
lanceolate and somewhat spread- 
ing. The receptacle is cone 
shaped and the chaff on it spiny tipped and 
longer than the disk flowers. The akenes are 
thick, short and 4-sided, and the pappus con- 
sists of a short border or crown with small 
teeth. 
The Narrow-leaved Purple Coneflower 
grows in dry prairie and open places from 
Minnesota to Saskatchewan and Illinois to 
Texas. It has a very rough, hairy stem 1-2 
feet high. The leaves gre entire, narrowly 
lanceolate and hairy. They are strongly 3- 
nerved; the lower are slender petioled whereas the upper may be 
sessile. | 
The heads, blooming from June to October, contain 12-20 
purplish to white rays which are sterile, and very many reddish 
purple perfect disk flowers. The ray flowers are usually not more 
than 1 inch long and do not droop much. 
Most commonly confused with the narrow-leaved species is the — 
Pale Purple Coneflower, Brauneria pallida (Nutt.) Britton, probably 
the commonest of the three in Illinois. It is very similar but often 
taller, sometimes 3 feet high, and the commonly paler ray flowers 
are narrow and longer, up to 3 inches, and strongly drooping. 
The third species is the Purple Coneflower, Brauneria purpurea 
(DC.) Britton, which has a smooth stem 2-5 feet high, and broader 
lower and basal leaves that are usually 5-nerved, toothed and either 
narrowed or somewhat heart shaped at the base. Petioles of the lower 
leaves are mostly winged at the summit. The uppermost leaves are 3- 
nerved, sessile or nearly so and often entire. The heads are very 
Similar to those of the pale species, but the 12-20 rays are deeper pur- 
ple, 144-3 inches long and spreading, 
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