Echinacea purpura, or purple coneflower, is native to North America. The name comes from the Greek word echino for hedgehog. This reference to the hedgehog relates to the spiny, brownish disk in the center of the purple blossom.
There is a white variety.
Native Americans have used echinacea for hundreds of years to treat a variety of illnesses long before the Europeans came. Over 200 medicines are derived from Echinacea purpura extract.
Today is is believed that it aids in strengthening the immune system.
Echinacea is pollinated by bees and butterflies. Humming birds love them and, when the plants are dead but still standing, gold finches are often seen perched upon the head of the disk enjoying a snack of the seeds.
Echinacea is deer resistant and the only insect that is a bother to the flower is the Japanese beetle.
You many have guessed that pur'pur.a is Latin for purple, and the accent is on the first syllable. To speak Greek properly one must roll his/her "r's". Doing this with this color is, indeed, a tongue twister. The Latin word comes from the Greek porphura that described the Tyrian purple dye that comes from smashing the spiny dye-murex snails that are found off Tyre on the north eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea.
This foul-smelling dye was used by Lydia (discussed in the New Testament) to dye her purple clothing for the wealthy who overlooked the smell of their clothing in order to dress in rich purple and to impress others. 'Tis true. The smelly dye was manufactured at Tyre by stomping and smashing the tiny snails in their shells. It took innumerable shells. This smelly substance was shipped to Lydia's boutique and to others in Philippi. Inscriptions from Philippi indicate a guild of dyers was found there.
Much, much earlier Homer's Iliad tells of two women in Philippi who were famous for their work in purple dying.
Tyre had dwellings that were higher than those in Rome but had worse slums. The stench of its dyeing establishments was rank but the residents overlooked the stench for they realized that their city's wealth came from their richly colored textiles and, especially, its purple silks.
With smelly Tyre in mind we will mention that William Shakespeare's comedy, "Pericles, Prince of Tyre," was first performed in 1608-09 just two years before the Authorized King James Version of the Bible came off the press (this was in 1611).
There is a white variety.
Native Americans have used echinacea for hundreds of years to treat a variety of illnesses long before the Europeans came. Over 200 medicines are derived from Echinacea purpura extract.
Today is is believed that it aids in strengthening the immune system.
Echinacea is pollinated by bees and butterflies. Humming birds love them and, when the plants are dead but still standing, gold finches are often seen perched upon the head of the disk enjoying a snack of the seeds.
Echinacea is deer resistant and the only insect that is a bother to the flower is the Japanese beetle.
You many have guessed that pur'pur.a is Latin for purple, and the accent is on the first syllable. To speak Greek properly one must roll his/her "r's". Doing this with this color is, indeed, a tongue twister. The Latin word comes from the Greek porphura that described the Tyrian purple dye that comes from smashing the spiny dye-murex snails that are found off Tyre on the north eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea.
This foul-smelling dye was used by Lydia (discussed in the New Testament) to dye her purple clothing for the wealthy who overlooked the smell of their clothing in order to dress in rich purple and to impress others. 'Tis true. The smelly dye was manufactured at Tyre by stomping and smashing the tiny snails in their shells. It took innumerable shells. This smelly substance was shipped to Lydia's boutique and to others in Philippi. Inscriptions from Philippi indicate a guild of dyers was found there.
Much, much earlier Homer's Iliad tells of two women in Philippi who were famous for their work in purple dying.
Tyre had dwellings that were higher than those in Rome but had worse slums. The stench of its dyeing establishments was rank but the residents overlooked the stench for they realized that their city's wealth came from their richly colored textiles and, especially, its purple silks.
With smelly Tyre in mind we will mention that William Shakespeare's comedy, "Pericles, Prince of Tyre," was first performed in 1608-09 just two years before the Authorized King James Version of the Bible came off the press (this was in 1611).
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