Echinacea Purpurea (Purple Coneflower)
Echinacea purpurea is a popular ornamental and medicinal plant featuring 3–4 inch flowers with pink-orange cone-shaped centers and purple-pink rays. It is easy to germinate, widely adapted, and unlike other echinaceas has fibrous roots rather than a taproot and is more highly branched at the top. Medicinally, echinacea is known for its immunostimulant, bacteriostatic, and anti-viral properties, activating macrophages and increasing white blood cell levels as a useful short-term immune booster.