Plant Preference/Growing Conditions:

Prefers full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day) than partial shade. Grows best in soil conditions of clay loam instead of sandy loam soils in full sun and is adaptable to dry to moist conditions and various soils.

Growth Habit/Description:

Its main habitats include prairies, meadows, thickets, banks, and woodland edges.

Bloom Season:

Blooms early summer to late fall. The prairie coneflowers bloom at the top of each stem. Produces a yellow or gold, flower with 6-13 petals or rays that surround a central grey dome of disc flowers.  The beautiful flowers last a long time and hold up well in bouquets.

Fall and/or Winter Interest?

Yes. It sows unstratified seeds in the fall that attract to birds, especially winter finches. 

Host Plant for Pollinators?

Yes.  It is the host plant for butterflies, bees, pollinators, and songbirds. It is a larval host to silvery checkerspot butterfly, the wavy-line emerald moth, and the common eupithecia moth.

Other Known Ecological Value?

Yes.  Resistance to drought and poor soil. Native bees that commonly use grey-headed coneflowers are sweat bees, bumble bees, long-horned bees, and leafcutter bees. Butterflies such as viceroys, monarchs, azures, sulfurs, crescents, and hairstreaks will commonly visit. The seed heads are eaten in the fall by birds such as the goldfinches and other songbirds will eat the seeds. It is a long-lived species and is best to plant where there is competition from other plants.

Origin of Name: . First named by Constantine Rafinesque-Schmaltz (17830-1840), an eccentric botanist who traveled extensively in areas east of the Mississippi River. Pinnata is Latin for "feather-like" and refers to the leaves.

Related Plant Species:   Related species are Ratibida columnifera, Ratibida peduncularis, and Ratibida tagetes.  Ratibida pinnata is a slender, hairy-stemmed plant bearing flower heads with drooping, yellow petals surrounding a roundish to ellipsoid, grayish central disc darkening to brown as petals drop off.  When bruised, the disk smells of anise.

Plant Use:

Ratibida pinnata root was used for toothache (Fielder 1975)

BONAP's North American Plant Atlas. “Ratibida pinnata (Prairie coneflower).” bonap.net,[Cited 2024, September 18]. 
Available from: https://bonap.net/Napa/TaxonMaps/Genus/County/Ratibida. 

Landy Bird Johnson wildflower center “Raibida pinnata” (Prairie coneflower) University of Texas at Austin, 

[Cited 2024, September 18].

Available from: https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=RAPI

North Carolina Extension Gardener plant toolbox, "Ratibida pinnata" (Prairie coneflower) plants.ces.ncsu.edu, [Cited 18, September 2024]. 
Available from: https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/ratibida-pinnata/ 

Friends of the Arboretum Native Plant Sale "Ratibida pinnata" (Yellow coneflower) arboretum.wisc.edu [Cited 18, September 2024]. 
Available from: https://arboretum.wisc.edu/content/uploads/2015/03/PI_Yellow-Coneflower.pdf

Pollinator Partnership Spotlight, Plant Profile: Yellow Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata) By Laura Jach Smith, pollinator.org [Cited 2, October 2024]

Available From:

https://pollinator.org/pollinator.org/assets/globals/Pollinator-Partnership-Spotlight_Plant-profile-for-yellow-coneflower.pdf 

Backyard Ecology TM, Plant Highlights Grey-headed Coneflower, (Ritibida pinnata) , backyardecology.net [cited 2, October 2024)

Available From:

https://www.backyardecology.net/grey-headed-coneflower/ 

Missouri Botanical Garden, (Ratibida pinnata), missouribotanicalgarden.org, [Cidted 13, October 2024]

Available From: https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=l940 

USDA - NRCS, United States Department of Agriculture - Natural Resources Conservation Service - Plant Guide, Yellow Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata), plant.usda.gov

Available From:https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/pg_rapi.pdf 

Last edited by Lindsey Cox , October 2024.