Echinacea

**Semantic type:** Plant

**Definition:** A genus of nine species of flowering plants in the Family Asteraceae, all native to eastern North America. These are herbaceous, drought-tolerant perennial plants growing to 1 or 2 m in height. The leaves are lanceolate to elliptic, 10-20 cm long and 1.5-10 cm broad. Like all Asteraceae, the flowers are a composite inflorescence, with purple (rarely yellow or white) florets arranged in a prominent, somewhat cone-shaped head; "cone-shaped" because the petals of the outer ray florets, once the flower head opens, tend to point downward (are decumbent), thus forming a cone. Extracts from the plants, especially Echinacea angustifolia, Echinacea pallida, and Echinacea purpurea, increase the non-specific activity of the immune system.

**Synonyms:** - Coneflower - ECHINACEA, UNSPECIFIED - Echinacea Moench - Echinacea, Unspecified - Purple Coneflower - echinacea - purple coneflower