Home Sitemap Site Index Contact About Us
|
|
Home Sitemap Site Index Contact About Us |
|
Gray-Headed Coneflower Ratibida pinnta Family - Ratibida This summer wild flower I found on Trail 3 at Spring Mill State Park. It was growing in a small m eadow located near the junction of the connecting spur with Trail 4, a sunny area populated with other sun loving wildflowers. The gray, raised button in the center of the bright yellow flower has an anise like scent when bruised. It will darken to brown as the petals fall from the flower. These plants were about thirty-six inches tall, they can grow to 60 inches. This is a fairly open, dry and rocky area, the preferred habitat of this pretty wildflower. This is a prairie plant which has managed to survive in wild areas like this around the state. The flowering time is June to September, the ones here blooming in mid-July in south Central Indiana. |
|
Livestock will graze on the Gray Headed Coneflower, so open fields which have grazing cattle will
have few if any of this summer plant. This plant inhabits a fairly wide range, from southern Ontario
in Canada, east to western New York. This coneflower’s range then extends south to Georgia and west
to Oklahoma and Nebraska. It can also be found in Minnesota. This is just one of many of the summer blooming wildflowers found on Trail 3. The bright yellow color of the Gray headed coneflower created splashes of color in the small meadow it inhabitated near the deeper, darker forests which surrounded it. The meadow overlooked a deep canyon which contains the opening to Donaldson Cave. |
