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Echinacea

Names: Echinacea spp. (Asteraceae); Coneflower, Snakeroot, Purple Coneflower.

About Echinacea

The name Echinacea stems from the Greek echinos, meaning hedgehog – a reference to its cone-shaped spiky seed-cluster. There are nine species of Echinacea, three of which are used medicinally for similar purposes.

Native to central and south-western US, Echinacea are commonly found in the prairies and plains and in open woodlands. The whole plant including the roots is used in complementary medicines.

The flowers are about 12cm across and have a spiky golden-brown central cone surrounded by broad pink/purple petals that tend to droop as the flower ages.

Echinacea is a traditional medicine of Native Americans, the roots being used to make poultices for wounds and to treat snake and insect bites. Settlers adopted the use of the herb in the 18th century, and by 1895 homeopaths in Germany were prescribing Echinacea remedies. Commercial cultivation of E. purpurea and research into its properties began in the late 1930s in Germany.

Echinacea is commonly used today as an immune tonic to relieve and shorten the duration of infections such as colds, flu and those of the upper respiratory and lower urinary tracts. An ointment is applied externally to poorly healing wounds and for chronic ulcerations, burns, eczema, psoriasis and herpes simplex.

The precise ways in which Echinacea acts are unclear

Photograph credit: Phil Cawley