Coneflower + Monarch Butterfly

Its other well-known name, Echinacea, comes from the Greek word echinos, meaning hedgehog or sea-urchin, in reference to the spiny center cone found on most flowers in the genus. The perennial rhizomous plant can get 11 to nearly 60 inches tall. Flowers are rayed and purple, with the center disc florets orange, drawing all kinds of pollinators. Other types of coneflower are pictured here as well, often growing together in open prairie grasslands. These are a high-value plant to pollinators for nectar and pollen.

You’ve likely partnered with this flower already to fight a cold virus. It is known to support immune function, and was used for a variety of ailments by Indigenous people for hundreds of years. European settlers reportedly used it to treat then-common outbreaks of diseases like Scarlet Fever, Diphtheria, and Syphilis. Hence, they’re symbolic of strength and healing.

Coneflower is accompanied by the Monarch butterfly. From the World Wildlife Federation: “Monarch butterflies embark on a marvelous migratory phenomenon. They travel between 1,200 and 2,800 miles or more from the northeast United States, and southeast Canada to the mountain forests in central Mexico, where they find the right climate conditions to hibernate from the beginning of November to mid-March. The monarch butterfly is known by scientists as Danaus plexippus, which in Greek literally means “sleepy transformation.” The name evokes the species’ ability to hibernate and metamorphize. Adult monarch butterflies possess two pairs of brilliant orange-red wings, featuring black veins and white spots along the edges. Males, who possess distinguishing black dots along the veins of their wings, are slightly bigger than females. Each adult butterfly lives only about four to five weeks.Milkweed is the only plant on which monarchs will lay their eggs and the only source of food for baby caterpillars. But urban planning and agricultural expansion have paved and plowed over millions of acres of milkweed. Planting the right species of milkweed in a given area can help these amazing butterflies and other pollinators thrive.”

Original mixed media on raw stretched canvas with maple float frame.