The Flower Hour #25: Coneflower Conviviality

This beauty is a non-native, robust, pollinator-friendly herbaceous perennial. The etymology of Echinacea is the ancient Greek word ekhinos (ἐχῖνος). The modern Greek word, achinós (αχινός) translates to sea urchin, and has become a fundamental noun in both botany and zoology, where it is used to describe plants and organisms that are thorny, spiky, prickly, barbed, or spinous.

Many folks swear Echinacea helps to ward off or minimize the effects of the common cold. Most vitamin and herbal companies produce Echinacea supplements using Microwave-Assisted Extraction (MAE), a heat process that ruptures the Echinacea root cells, creating a solvent that is used to make the capsules/tablets. These are sold, OTC, in most pharmacies, department stores, and online.

Me? I just like the beauty of these blossoms in my garden and all the pollinators who visit them.

From my various gardens over the years:

Thanks to Terri for another “The Flower Hour” post and for keeping pretty flowers front of mind each week. Reading Terri’s prompts (and all the subsequent posts) is always uplifting and oh-so-enjoyable. To see her adorably cute header image, read her Poppy narrative, and be completely wowed, please click here:

The Flower Hour #25: POP Go the Poppies

’Til next time, y’all…