Ratibida columnifera (Upright prairie coneflower)

Ratibida columnifera (Nutt.) Wooton & Standl.

Ratibida columnifera (Nutt.) Woot. & Standl.

Ratibida columnifera

Lepachys columnaris (Pursh) Torr. & A. Gray

Lepachys columnifera (Nutt.) J.F. Macbr.

Ratibida columnaris (Pursh) D. Don

Ratibida columnaris (Pursh) D. Don var. pulcherrima (DC.) D. Don

Rudbeckia columnaris Pursh non Sims

Rudbeckia columnifera Nutt.

Upright prairie coneflower, Mexican hat

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Asteridae	A large class that encompasses asters
Order	Asterales	Flowering plants with a central disk flower and surrounding petals, like daisies
Family	Asteraceae	The aster family, which also includes daisies and sunflowers; from the Greek ἀστήρ, “star,” for the star-shaped flowers
Genus	Ratibida	A name used by C.S. Rafinesque. David Hollombe sent me the following: “Rafinesque’s brief description in a paper in ‘Journal de physique, de chimie et d’histoire naturelle et des arts’ in 1819 mentions the rays as being bifid, although that explanation does not account for the ‘t’.” Rafinesque often assigned unexplained names to plants. It is curious that about 60 sites online use the spelling Ratidiba rather than Ratibida
Species	columnifera	Bearing columns, in reference to the tall cylindrical flower heads

[An article has not been written yet.]

Ratibida columnifera description by Thomas H. Kent, last updated 25 May 2020.

8/31/2014 · New Mexico
≈ 3½ × 4" (8.9 × 10 cm)

8/31/2014 · New Mexico
≈ 3½ × 4" (9.4 × 10 cm)

8/28/2014 · Town of Taos Visitor Center, Taos, New Mexico
≈ 6 × 7" (16 × 18 cm)

8/28/2014 · High Road to Taos, New Mexico · By Susan M. Kent
≈ 2½ × 1¾" (6.3 × 4.8 cm)

Range: