Yellow Coneflower
(Echinacea paradoxa)

This coneflower is yellow, not purple; even the scientific name gives a hint that this a paradox.  Like all coneflowers, each stem produces a single bloom with ray petals around a brown cone-shaped seed head.  Prairie birds like meadowlarks love the seeds.  Later on in the fall, you will be able to see the birds feeding in the Lakeside Nature Center's Butterfly Gardens.