PRAIRIE CONEFLOWER--Ratibida columnifera
Description:  The genus Ratibida is distinguished from other coneflowers by the cylindric disk of the flower head.  Showy yellow rays tend to droop.  Flowering is June to September.  Leaves are mostly deeply pinnately divided.  Prairie coneflower usually grows 12 to 36 inches tall from a stout taproot; the disk is distinctly columnar, up to 1 3/4 inches long, with rays about 1 inch long.  Leaves are up to 6 inches long and divided into 5 to 9 segments.  Grayheaded coneflower grows to 45 inches tall from a woody rhizome.  It has a somewhat grayish disk that is more oblong-globular than cylindric, and up to 1 inch long, with rays sometimes exceeding 2 inches.  Basal leaves are as much as 16 inches long, divided into 3 to 7 segments, with upper leaves smaller and less divided.
Distribution, habitat:  Prairie coneflower is native from Canada's prairie provinces, the Great Plains, and Rocky Mountain states to northeast Mexico.  It is sometimes abundant in plains and prairies of the northern Great Plains, including South Dakota.  Grayheaded coneflower is a more central and eastern species, just barely entering eastern South Dakota in remnant prairies and woodland openings.
Comments:  Prairie coneflower is palatable to stock and wildlife, especially when plants are young.  Depending on local conditions, prairie coneflower may decrease or increase with grazing pressure.  Dakota and Lakota made a tea to cure aches of stomach, head, or side; Dakota also made a leaf tea beverage.  Cheyenne prepared a solution for relieving the effects of rattlesnake bite and poison ivy.  A yellow dye was also made.  The plant was fed to horses when they could not urinate.  Prairie coneflower is widely marketed for prairie restoration and as a garden ornamental.  A dark red phase is marketed as 'Mexican hat.'	Picture and information can be found on pages 132 and 133 of Grassland Plants of South Dakota and the Northern Great Plains, by James R. Johnson and Gary E. Larson.  Published in 1999 by South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD.
Grayheaded coneflower seed heads are strongly aromatic when crushed.  Anecdotal information is scarce, but presumably its forage value is similar to prairie coneflower.