Here's a better picture.

Jayman

{{gwi:830918}}

Yes. This happened to me two years ago. I had to dig up all of mine and throw them away. It is a disease that will spread to all of your coneflowers. I started over last year, and so far mine are okay this year.

I have the same thing just beginning in some Echinacea purpurea buds. It's a patch which has grown with lots of self-seeded plants amongst maybe 3 originals planted about 5 years ago. It has appeared as a topic on the perennials forum - look for 'mutant echinacea flowers'. They say it is a disease called 'aster yellows', which is spread by a leafhopper. But if you then do a search on aster yellows it is hard to find much specifically about the strange mutations to echinacea flowers. Still, it sounds like bad news. I think the leaves of the affected plants also look a little yelowing compared to the OK ones. I think I'm going to selectively dig up the bad ones only.

Thanks, I'll start digging.
Jayman