The Echinacea Plant

(Western Herb)

Echinacea angustifolia

The Echinacea plant is also known as Coneflower, and Rudbeckia.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION AND INFORMATION:

What is Echinacea? It is a North American perennial known for its pinkish-purple daisy like flowers with conical orange-brown centers packed with briskly scales.

It has dark green leaves covered with coarse hairs and grows to approximately three feet tall.

Echinacea angustifolia is a shorter plant than the Echinacea purpurea plant. They are very similar in appearance but each species has slightly different effects, therefore specific disorders are best treated with one or the other. The Echinacea plant is native central and eastern North American and grows in prairies and open woodlands.

The Echinacea plant has become one of the most popular and widely used herbs in North American and European herbal medicine. It was ignored as a remedy in the United States until the 1970s, when it was rediscovered by American herbalists.

Today it is primarily used to reduce symptoms and duration of colds, flu, and upper respiratory tract infections, and to help boost the immune system.

TARGET AILMENTS:

Take internally for:

* acne

* bad breath

* infected nails

* colds and cough

* croup

* influenza

* pneumonia

* respiratory illnesses

* mononucleosis

* laryngitis

* tonsillitis

* gingivitis

* toothache

* strep throat

* chicken pox

* mumps

* blood poisoning

* poison oak

* ear infection

* chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)

* yeast infection

* kidney infection

* staph

Apply externally for:

* cuts and sores

* wounds

* abscesses

* hives

* minor burns

* psoriasis and eczema

* acne

* herpes

PREPARATIONS AND DOSAGE:

Over the counter: The Echinacea plant is available as tincture, capsule, tablet, powder, bulk herb, and tea bag. It is also available as lozenge, mouthwash, throat spray, and soap in health food stores.

At home:

Tea:

Decoction:

Ointment or Salve

Parts used: Roots, flowers, seeds

Collection: Leaves and other above ground parts of the plant are gathered or harvested in mid-summer, while the plant is flowering. Roots and rhizome (underground stems) are gathered in autumn and dried.

Constituents: Volatile oil, inulin, inuloid, sucrose, vulose, glycoside, phenolics echinacoside, luteolin, rutin

Actions: Anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, antiviral, detoxifying

Combinations: can be combined with Yarrow and Bearberry (Uva Ursi) to treat cystitis. Echinacea can be combined with many different plants for remedies.

SAFETY AND SIDE EFFECTS:

* People with autoimmune disease should not take this herb.

* Should not be used continuously; only for a few weeks at a time.

* Do not give this herb to children under the age of two.

* Anyone with allergies to ragweed or to plants in the sunflower family should use with caution.