However, aside from its obvious charm as an ornamental plant, the Purple Cornflower is reputed to have therapeutic value as well. For generations, Echinacea has been taken as an immune system booster that has actually been proven to have significant results in combating everything from the common cold to Athlete's Foot.

The facts: the genus name is from the Greek echino, meaning "spiny", due to the spiny central disk. Purple Coneflowers grow from three to four feet tall on straight, coarse, hairy stems. Some newer types are only two and a half feet tall. The plants grow in clumps that spread two to four inches every year. The blossoms are two and a half or more inches across, and resemble daisies. The familiar reddish-purple petals, or "ray" flowers, surround large, dark, centers composed of numerous, densely compacted "disk" flowers. This central "cone" may black, brown, orange bronze or rust-colored, depending on the variety. Flowers start to bloom in midsummer at the tips of branching stems, several to a plant. They continue for two to three months. Then the petals drop and the centers gradually enlarge, becoming dark, bristly cones as the seeds within mature.

So, whether you prize it for beauty or reputed theraputic effects, the Purple Coneflower certainly embodies the ideal of every day-dreaming New Yorker: well-dressed, attractive professional by day, with a life-saving (or at least sniffle-stifling) alter ego after hours. Cape optional.