Purple Coneflower

Echinacea purpurea

Purple coneflower (E. purpurea) is the domesticated cousin of E. angustifolia and E. pallida.  It is also native to N. America, but hails from the more humid regions of the southeast and Appalachia.  Garden cultivars range from the intensely pink/purple ‘Blaze,’ to a pure white flowered ‘White Swan.’  This plant is rare in the wild, and so should not be wild-crafted.  So far, research shows that the garden varieties have medicinal properties, along with their wild cousins, so this can actually be a dual purpose crop, as the flowers are also in demand in the floral industry and local flower markets.
 

Family:  Asteraceae
Life cycle:  Herbaceous perennial
Native:  North America
Height:  3-4  feet.
Sun:  Full sun to partial shade.
Soil:  Fairly rich soil. 
Water:  Moderate.  Can tolerate some drought, but responds to irrigation.
Flowering:  Pink/purple flowers bloom from mid to late summer.
Propagation:  Sow seed directly in the field in spring, or sow seed indoors in
very early spring and transplant out to the field in late spring. No seed treatment is required for this Echinacea. In a garden setting, the plants re-seed fairly prolifically, and daughter plants can be transplanted each year.
Harvesting:  Roots are harvested in the fall or spring of the 2^nd or 3^rd year.  Roots are fibrous and are fairly easy to harvest, but washing is more difficult than with the tap-rooted species.  Harvest the aerial parts, flowers and seed from the 2^nd season on while in full flower.  Use needle nose spade to dig roots. Mechanization is possible using a chisel plow or lister to expose the root, then remove and clean roots by hand.  A modified potato digger is also a possibility.  Seed crops are possible, but the Echinaceas will hybridize over the distance of up to a mile, so only grow one species if you are saving seed to sell.   Harvest seed once the heads are partially dry, and thresh by hand or mechanically.  If seed is difficult to get out, freeze and thaw one or more times to loosen the seed in the head.
Parts used:  Tops, leaves, and roots, fresh or dried.  The highest concentration of active ingredient is found in the roots and flower buds.
Used as: Primary forms are infusion (tea), tincture, juice, and capsules.  Also found in many other products.
Medicinal benefits: Approved by physicians in Europe
for common cold, cough/bronchitis, fevers and colds, infections of the urinary tract, inflammation of the mouth and pharynx, tendency to infection, and topically for wounds and burns.  Several clinical trials have demonstrated the efficacy of E. purpurea in activiating T-cells (immune system cells), and promoting wound healing.  Historically used for everything from saddle sores to snake-bite, and also to promote healing following the bite of the brown recluse spider.
Market potential:  Moderate to very high.   Prices for tops range from $14.00 - 54.40 per dw lb, and for roots $12.00 - 65.60 per dw lb.  Echinacea is the top selling herb in the U.S.

KSU Field Trial Data - 2000-2002.  

Summary of Field Trial Data:   In field trials, we found that the seeds were easy to germinate, and seedlings for transplant were easy to grow in the greenhouse.  Fairly good success was obtained with transplanting, and survival by the end of the first growing season averaged nearly 90%.  However, this plant appears to be highly suceptible to the disease, ‘Aster Yellows,’ which is a mycoplasma-like organism.  The disease is spread by a leaf-hopper, and there are no known organic controls for this pest.  The disease apparently doesn’t always kill the plant, but symptoms include light green color to leaves and stems, multiple seed-heads, distorted, stunted growth, short inter-node stem length, and low vigor.  By the end of the first growing season, some symptoms were visible, and by the end of the second growing season, 90 to 100% of plants appeared to be infected (data not shown).   Survival was reduced to less than 50%, and the vigor rating dropped from over 3 in the first year, to less than 3 (below average) in years 2 and 3, largely because of the aster yellows disease.  It is plausible that one could still harvest some of the plant, especially the root for market, but we don’t have data yet on whether efficacy is affected by the disease, and whether it would be ethical to market roots known to have the disease.  There wouldn’t be an effect of the plant disease on humans per se, just a reduction in the effectiveness of the medicinal qualities.   Another possibility is to harvest the tops in year 1 for market, knowing that the entire stand will be affected by the second year.   

Unfortunately, we observed this disease at all locations, and have had grower reports from several parts of the state as well, so this is not an isolated outbreak.  We also have heard that some parts of the country are not affected by aster yellows, as the leaf hopper pressure is not as high, so those growers would have the competitive advantage over Great Plains growers in that respect.  Our thoughts on this crop at this point is that it is not commercially viable on a large scale as an organic crop in Kansas at this time, given the difficulties of controlling the disease.  However, if one were growing this crop small scale and/or for local markets, there is still some potential.  Root weights per plant were as high with E. purpurea as with E. pallida, though both E. pallida and E. angustifolia seem to be much less susceptible to aster yellows (see E. angustifolia and E. pallida fact sheets for details).