Plant Study
ECHINACEA
Latin Names: Echinacea angustifolia, E.pallida, and E. purpurea
Latin Family Name: Compositae/Asteraceae
English Family Name: Composite/Aster
Common Names (Synonyms): Coneflower, Black Sampson, Rudbeckia, Brauneria Pallida, Snake Root, and Sonnenhut
Body System Affiliations: Bacterial and viral conditions, urinary tract infections, pelvic infections, blood poisoning, glandula conditions, and immune system
Botanical and Ecology Description:
Habitat: Perennial native to North America. States includes Louisiana, Georgia, Michigan, and Ohio. Grows in open fields, dry open woods and prairies. Prefers full sunlight and well-drained soil. Echinacea’s petals are very similar to daisies – large purplish pink to a rich purple. Petals (infloresceuce) are actually a ray flower and it surrounds a brownish-orange cone. The flower head can reach up to 4 to 5 inches in diameter. Stems are very long, which can be 2 to 3 feet high. They are very slender, rough and bristly. The leaves are also bristly and dark green – lancelolate, alternate and long petioled at the base. The roots are tapering, cylindrical and slight spiral. It has a very faint aromatic smell. It flowers from July to October. I.
Propagation: Best technique is to gather the root and the entire plant in the fall or when it is in full bloom. Dry it for later use (make sure it is fully dry).
Harvest: Part of the plant that is used most often is the roots of the plant. Pull the entire plant, roots included. Wash the plant thoroughly and make sure it is very clean. Dry the roots. Roots have high concentration of volatile oils. The whole plant can be used for various reasons also.
Constituents: “Essential oil, polsaccharides, polyacetylenes, betain, glycoside, sesquiterpenes, and caryophylene. It also contains copper, iron, tanning, proteins, fatty acids, and vitamins A, C, and E.”
Traditions: “In religious ceremonies, Echinacea was used as an offering to the spirits of gods and goddesses, and to strengthen a spell or ritual” II.
Medicinal Information: Roots of Echinacea are used for boosting the immune system. They are used to treat influenza-like infections. The rest of the plant can be used to treat colds, wounds, upper respiratory tract and urinary tract infections. It stimulates the activity of cells that are responsible for fighting off infections.
Echinacea is also used internally to treat bacterial and viral conditions such as AIDS, herpes, and meningitis. It helps with blood conditions, gastrointestinal conditions, glandular conditions, inflammatory conditions and respiratory tract infections.
Different number of forms can be used:
- “Liquid extracts. Recommended amounts range from one to five droppers full per use. 3 times per day.
- Capsules or tablets. Recommended usage level: ½ - 2 gram per use. 3 times a day.
- Echinacea tea – Brewed as tea – ½ - 2 grams per use. 3 times a day” III.
Possible side effects/cautions: “People who are allergic to flowers in the daisy family may be allergic to Echinacea as well.” IV.
Long-term use may lose its effectiveness. Maximum periods of continuous use should be about eight weeks. Echinacea is not a replacement for antibiotics or other drugs. This wonderful herb has many positive effects when it comes to boosting the immune system, but there are some precautions that a person must take. It is important to make sure an allergic reaction doesn’t occur. Research shows that this is very rare, but it could happen. The allergic reaction could vary from just a mild rash to a life threatening reaction, which includes shortness of breath and throat tightening. People with asthma have a higher risk of developing the life threatening reactions.
“The American Herbal Products Association gives Echinacea a class 1 safety rating, which indicates that it is safe when used appropriately (as instructed by the product label) and with the guidance of a healthcare professional.” V.. With the safety rating, this may be one of the reasons why it is a very popular natural antibiotic.
Harvesting Echinacea
Jean Bohling and I drove to Rochester to her friend’s garden to harvest Echinacea since we both picked this wonderful medicinal plant for our plant. The garden was beautiful. It was called the “ Goddess Garden”. Seems to me this garden had many other medicinal plants besides Echinacea. We had to be very respectful to the garden. Jean’s friend was very nice because she labeled the Echinacea plant for us. Jean took the shovel and got the plant out with roots everything. We then said “ thank you Garden for allowing us to come into the Garden to harvest this plant”. Jean then sprinkled lavender/white sage/tobacco as an offering of thanks and giving something back for what we’ve taken.
We took the plant home, dried it up completely. We also then chopped it up to the best of our ability. We made Echinacea tea w/the plant we pulled from the ‘ Goddess Garden”. It has a bitter taste to it, but it didn’t taste too bad at all.
II.www.globalherbalsupplies.com
III.www.herb.org/greenpapers/echinacea.html
V. Website-www.umm.edu
References Cited:
- Tierra, Lesley. A Kid’s Herb Book for Children of all Ages. San Francisco, Ca: Robert D. Reed Publishers, 2000
- Miller, Sandra Carol. Echinacea, the Genus Echinacea. Medicinal Aromatic Plants. CRC Press
Echinacea – Children version
One cold snowy Sunday morning, little Joshua awoke with a bad bad sore throat. His throat ached each time he tried to talk. Little Joshua became very worried that he would not be able to be in the 2 nd grade school play on Monday. Tears filled his eyes as he thought of not being in the play. He was suppose to be the lead singer in the play. He wanted so much to be in it.
After laying in bad a long while, little Joshua’s mommy became concerned that little Joshua was not out of bed yet. She went to see what might be wrong with him. “What is wrong Joshua?” his mom asked. “Mommy, mommy, my throat hurts really bad and I won't be able to sing in the school play”. He sadly said. “Oh my little Joshua, mommy knows of a magic medicine that will help make your sore throat go away”. His mom said. Joshua’s eyes lit up with joy. “Mommy, really a magic medicine to make me well so that I can sing in the play?” said Joshua with joy. He asked “what is this magic medicine?”
“Well Joshua, big people call this medicine “Echinacea”. But it’s also called a “Coneflower”. In fact we can call this the magic Coneflower. It looks like daisies, but has a purplish pink…very pretty color. The petals surround a unique looking brownish orange cone, which is why some people call it a Coneflower. People use the roots of this magic Coneflower to make medicine and tea. The medicine helps cure colds and flu. In fact, I have some magic Coneflower tea in the kitchen so you can take some right now.” His mom said.
Joshua’s mom went to the kitchen to make Joshua’s his magic Coneflower tea. Little Joshua drank the tea and kept waiting and waiting to get better.
Before it was dinner time, Joshua’s sore throat went away. He was so excited that he didn’t have to miss the school play.
The next day came. There sat Joshua’s proud mother sitting in the front row listening to her son singing so beautifully. All thanks to the magic Coneflower.
