OMG I cannot find these damn things! I have progressed to chapter 3 and only have one root! I know they're supposed to be in the swamp, but I've run all over the place, night and day, and haven't seen any since I killed the one outside the cave.

Are there any other spawn locations I can check out as having this quest unfinished will be very annoying!

Thanks!

I think that may have been the only one I found as well. As the game progressed, I stopped bothering trying to complete every quest I had. It's a fetch quest with no significance, so I'd say just skip it, and enjoy the game.

Many spawn near the path that runs by the ruined tower and Scoia'tael camp. This is a reliable place to find them (and archespores, for which there's a Chapter 3 contract).

Also, they only come out at night. This is an important point that's easy to forget because there's monsters running around the swamp in daylight too. But Echinops (with a few notable exceptions, like the one that shot at Siegfried in Chapter 2) will only show up at night.

Hey, I marked the places on this map where echinopsae spawn in the swamp forest. That space above the swamp tower along that path to the Scoiatel/Salamander camp, Gramp's Hut (you should have fought a bunch of them if you went to visit him and fought him!!), and the small islands area. Also (less common) is the area around the cave and a couple other spots, like when you help Yaren Bolt clear the path for the lumberjacks in Chapter 3. Good hunting.

Try the swamps at night. There should be one spawn near the elves' camp and one near the tower. There's more but I can't remember, but they definitely come out at night.

i got mine from chapter one in the cave when burying leuvaardens friend :)

If you keep trying around where the archespores spawn, you'll get some echinops. It may take you a few days in-game, but you will get some echinops eventually.

wasn't those harder flowers indeed come basicly at night in the swamp. And highlighting button is your friend in many cases.
If i remember correctly waltorius said that one flower is a bit hard and you get some trophy. I could be remembering wrong but I think not.
And wasn't those drowner repellant things (which would go in ringslot) a bit irritating. Drowners pretty much fear and retreat but they still mostly have to be killed. Then it was only harder.. Mostly.

Yes, starting in Chapter 2 there is a unique, extra-tough archespore that you can kill for a trophy. It's actually the very first archespore I encountered in the game. That one shows up during the day, though, in a few different locations.

I generally noticed that in daytime I only really ever encountered archespores, but at night there were a few echinops too. I didn't spend too much time in the swamps at night though since there's so many monsters.