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Asteraceae Family - "Long-headed Coneflower, Prairie Coneflower (also applied to R. pinnata)"

Origin of the name Ratibida is not known. Columnifera comes from the Latin word for "like a column" or "pillar-like", referring to the elongated cone at the center of the blossom.

Similar in many ways to R. pinnata, R. columnifera is found at the western edge of the Tallgrass region. This plant has the ray flowers surrounding an elongated central disk more than twice as long as it is wide. The ray flowers are sometimes tinged with dark red. Tall and slender, it grow to 4 tom 5 feet under ideal conditions. Leaves tend to droop a little with the lower leaves being larger that the upper. The "cone" at the center is actually a "disk" of flowers. Before the disk flowers open, the cone is gray colored. After opening, the cone then appears brown.

No medicinal or food uses reported for R. columnifera.