Posted by
Bluespiral (Maryland - Zone 7b) on Oct 23, 2015 1:29 PM concerning plant:
This plant was originally purchased from a local nursery, and we have been enjoying its flowers while deer mosey through, leaving them untouched. I have also been collecting seed for seed exchanges from this flower, and was startled to learn from a very knowledgeable friend that E. tennesseensis was originally considered sterile and did not produce seeds. She thinks seeds that come from this plant might be a result of E. tennesseensis crossing with E. purpurea, somewhere in the past.
Some years, during July - August, she drives through the Kentucky mountains, and over the border in Tennessee, looms a mountain with its peak above the clouds, with this wild flower blooming near its top.
Why did she tell me this? Because I called this flower "boring". The mountain's name is Rarity.
ps - In 2011, E. tennesseensis was taken off the Endangered Species List, although it is still considered endangered by the USDA. According to the Missouri Botanical Garden*, [the Tennessee Coneflower must be isolated several miles from other echinacea species to maintain its genetic integrity.]
*http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=r430. Last sentence is paraphrased from this link.
pps - Now, how does a sterile wild flower flourish on earth without making seeds for millions of years? Same question might apply to the ubiquitous ditch lily - how can Hemerocallis fulva survive so successfully without making seeds??