3i6 
Pharmacognosy  of  Echinacea. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
July,  1911. 
have  been  growing-  for  some  time  in  the  garden  of  the  Philadelphia 
College  of  Pharmac}^  and  their  identity  established. 
There  are  two  species  of  Echinacea  which  are  indigenous  to  the 
United  States.  These  are  known  by  botanists  under  the  generic 
name  of  Braiincria,  although  Hoffmann,  in  the  monograph  of  the 
Compositae  in  Engler  and  Prantl's  Pflanzenfamilien,  still  retains  them 
under  the  genus,  Rudheckia.  Thus  we  have  the  following  botanical 
synonyms  of  the  species  that  concerns  us : 
Rudheckia  pallida,  Nuttall  (1834). 
Echinacea  angustifolia,  DeCa-ndoWe  (1856). 
Brauneria  pallida  (Nuttall),  Britton  (1904). 
DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  PLANT. 
Brauneria  pallida  is  a  perrenial  herb,  somewhat  resembling 
Brauneria  purpurea,  a  plant  that  is  quite  extensively  cultivated  in 
the  gardens,  and  known  as  the  Cone  flower."  The  vertical  rhi- 
zome and  root  of  Brauneria  pallida  is,  however,  very  much  larger 
than  those  of  the  cone  flower.  The  plant  is  from  3  decimetres  to 
I  metre  high,  the  leaves  are  usually  more  or  less  crowded  near  the 
base  of  the  stem,  and  from  among  them  arises  a  long  peduncled 
head  of  flowers.  The  leaves  are  for  the  most  part  rather  narrow 
and  lanceolate,  pointed  at  both  the  apex  and  base,  and  with  a  very 
long  petiole,  the  latter  frequently  being  as  long  as  the  lamina. 
They  are  nearly  entire,  and  with  three  prominent  parallel  veins. 
The  flower  heads  are  made  up  of  both  tubular  and  ray  florets,  the 
entire  cluster  being  about  9  centimetres  in  diameter.  The  receptacle 
is  conical  and  solid,  and  subtended  by  three  series  of  imbricated 
bracts  which  are  lanceolate,  spinose,  with  an  acute  or  acuminate 
apex,  and  appressed  or  slightly  spreading.  On  the  receptacle  are 
borne  numerous  purplish  tubular  flowers,  which  are  about  i  centi- 
metre long  and  partly  enclosed  in  a  somewhat  woody  bract  with  a 
narrow  attenuated  apex  which  projects  several  millimetres  above  the 
flowers.  The  tubular  flowers  are  perfect,  the  calyx  being  short  and 
acute,  the  corolla  tubular  and  the  stigmas  ellipsoidal.  The  achenes 
are  obpyramidal  and  with  a  pappus,  forming  a  short  dentate  crown. 
The  ray  flowers  are  of  a  purplish  or  rose  color,  narrow  elliptical 
or  linear,  about  7  centimetres  long,  and  with  two  or  three  acute 
teeth  at  the  apex.  The  ray  flowers  appear  to  be  neutral,  and  in 
addition  to  the  spatulate  corolla,  possess  a  short  calyx  tube  with 
five  acute,  rather  short,  serrate  teeth. 
