Pale purple coneflower

Rudbeckia pallida Nuttall, J. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 7: 77. 1834

Plants to 140 cm (roots fusiform to narrowly turbinate, usually branched). Herbage sparsely to densely hairy (hairs spreading, ca. 1.5–1.7 mm). Stems green to purplish (rarely branched). Basal leaves: petioles 5–20+ cm; blades (1-), 3-, or 5-nerved, elliptic to lanceolate, 12–40 × 1–4 cm, bases cuneate to attenuate, margins entire (usually ciliate). Peduncles 15–50 cm. Phyllaries lanceolate to ovate, 7–15 × 1–3 mm. Receptacles: paleae 9–14 mm, tips purple, usually incurved, sharp-pointed. Ray corollas pink to reddish purple, laminae reflexed, 40–90 × 3–4 mm, sparsely hairy abaxially. Discs conic to hemispheric, 20–40 × 25–37 mm. Disc corollas 5.5–6.7 mm, lobes usually pink to purple (pollen usually white, rarely lemon yellow). Cypselae tan or bicolored, 2.5–5 mm, faces ± smooth, usually glabrous; pappi to ca. 1 mm (major teeth 0–4). 2n = 22.

Flowering late spring–summer. Rocky prairies, open wooded hillsides, and glades; 50–1500 m; Ont.; Ala., Ark., Conn., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., La., Maine, Mass., Mich., Mo., Nebr., N.Y., N.C., Okla., Tenn., Tex., Va., Wis.

Echinacea pallida is generally regarded as introduced in Connecticut, Georgia, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, and Virginia.