Identity
Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.132226
Element CodePDAST38060
Record TypeSPECIES
ClassificationSpecies
Classification StatusStandard
Name CategoryVascular Plant
Endemicendemic to a single nation
KingdomPlantae
PhylumAnthophyta
ClassDicotyledoneae
OrderAsterales
FamilyAsteraceae
GenusEchinacea
Other Common Nameseastern purple coneflower (EN) Échinacée pourpre (FR)
Concept ReferenceKartesz, J.T. 1994. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. 2nd edition. 2 vols. Timber Press, Portland, OR.
Conservation Status
Rank Method Rank calculation - Biotics v2
Review Date2024-01-22
Change Date2000-02-27
Edition Date2024-01-12
Edition AuthorsK. McKeown (1999), rev. Eberly (2024)
Threat ImpactUnknown
Range Extent200,000-2,500,000 square km (about 80,000-1,000,000 square miles)
Number of Occurrences81 - 300
Rank ReasonsEchinacea purpurea is a perennial herb of the eastern and central United States. Although still abundant in some areas, this species has suffered from large scale habitat loss and degradation. The conversion of its native prairie and woodland habitat to pastures or developed lands, overgrazing of those lands, and the control of noxious weeds, highway maintenance practices, fire suppression, and development have contributed to a slow decline in the species. As a species of highly fragmented habitats, inbreeding depression and low reproductive success are issues to monitor moving forward, in addition to direct loss of occurrences.
Range Extent CommentsEchinacea purpurea occurs in the central and eastern United States from Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Kansas south to Texas and east to the panhandle of Florida and as far northeast as western Virginia, West Virginia, and Ohio. This species is known to persist after escaping cultivation. Therefore, the exact boundaries of the native range, and even the nativity of occurrences within the native range, can be uncertain. It is considered exotic in Ontario (Canada), in Colorado and the northeastern United States (Native Plant Trust 2023). It is questionably native in Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania (Weakley and Southeastern Flora Team 2024).
Occurrences CommentsHistorically, this species was abundant, secure and widespread. Its populations may be locally abundant, but they are discontinuous in distribution. Highway department plantings of E. purpurea cultivars along roadsides may obscure true numbers of native populations. By applying a 1 km separation distance to herbarium records and NatureServe Network data documented between 1984 and 2024, it is estimated that there are between 81 and 300 occurrences rangewide (NatureServe 2024, SEINet 2024).
Threat Impact CommentsThis species is threatened by fire suppression resulting in habitat succession, mowing and herbicide use to control noxious weeds or roadside vegetation, conversion of habitat to pasture and subsequent intensive grazing, logging, development, competitive non-native species, and wild harvest for the medicinal herb trade.
Excessive commercial harvest for medicinal purposes is a potential future threat depending on the demand of the market, local economics, and the standing of cultivated sources. While E. angustifolia is typically targeted, any Echinacea spp. could be impacted. This species is easily cultivated by seed or by dividing the shallow fibrous roots and thus wild harvest is possibly minimal (Kindscher 2006). Castle et al. (2014) assessed the risk of overharvest as moderate for the closely related E. angustifolia, which would have a similar assessment as E. purpurea. This risk is based on life history, effects of harvest, populations size, habitat, and demand including the consideration availability of cultivated resources.