Echinacea |
Echinacea purpurea |
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Uses: Medicinal Duration: Perennial (hardy in zones 3-10) When to Sow: Spring/Late Summer/Early Fall Ease of Germination: Easy
(Coneflower) Highly regarded blood purifier used in the treatment of diseases caused by impurities. Said to increase bodily resistance to infection by strengthening the immune system. Rich reddish-purple daisies appear from July to September. |
| Echinacea (Purple Coneflower) | The following information is taken verbatim from the Grieve’s “A Modern Herbal”, 1931 [uncopyrighted]. These volumes are shown below for ordering. | |
Botanical Name |
Echinacea, various species | |
System Affected |
ear/eyes/nose/throat, blood, snakebite, urinary, gland | |
Properties |
blood purify/detox boils, abcesses adrenal stim. allergies, colds/cough/flu/influenza, cortisol lymph glands;prostate edema, gangrene, sores anticancer sore/strep throat, laryngitis gums, immune system, infections anti-bacterial/biotic/viral/fungal, anti-cancer anti-inflamatory, sties anti-spasm, pain, sedative, skin, yeast infections snakebite tonsilitis, ulcer, vulnerary yeast infect nipple HIV, Lymes pneumonia | |
Description |
roots & rhizomes of shrub | |
Origin |
America | |
Notes |
one variety called: Missouri Snakeroot | |
Toxicity |
none; stops working if taken too long. Ragweed-like allergies. | |
Dosage |
15 grains powder 2Xs/day w/water or juice |
Regardless of current research results, Echanacea remains one of the best immune-system stimulants in the herbal cornucopia, and the uses are plentiful: in addition to upper respiratory ailments, it has also been found efficacious with chronic yeast and urinary infections, as well as application topically for wounds, burns, and cuts; legendary for it’s antimicrobial properties, Echinacea can be used in extracts, teas, and poultices as well.
Echinacea
Botanical: Echinacea angustifolia (DE CANDOLLE)
Family: N.O. Compositae
---Synonyms---Black Sampson. Coneflower. Niggerhead. Rudbeckia. Brauneria pallida (Nutt.).
---Parts Used---Root, dried; also rhizome.
---Habitat---America, west of Ohio, and cultivated in Britain.
---Description---Named Echinacea by Linnaeus, and Rudbeckia, after Rudbeck, father and son, who were his predecessors at Upsala.
The flowers are a rich purple and the florets are seated round a high cone; seeds, four-sided achenes. Root tapering, cylindrical, entire, slightly spiral, longitudinally furrowed; fracture short, fibrous; bark thin; wood, thick, in alternate porous, yellowish and black transverse wedges, and the rhizome has a circular pith. It has a faint aromatic smell, with a sweetish taste, leaving a tingling sensation in the mouth not unlike Aconitum napellus, but without its lasting numbing effect.
---Constituents---Oil and resin both in wood and bark and masses of inulin, inuloid, sucrose, vulose, betaine, two phytosterols and fatty acids, oleic, cerotic, linolic and palmatic.
---Medicinal Action and Uses---Echinacea increases bodily resistance to infection and is used for boils, erysipelas, septicaemia, cancer, syphilis and other impurities of the blood, its action being antiseptic. It has also useful properties as a strong alterative and aphrodisiac. As an injection, the extract has been used for haemorrhoids and a tincture of the fresh root has been found beneficial in diphtheria and putrid fevers.
---Other Species---
Echinacea purpurea has similar properties to E. angustifolia; the fresh root of this is the part used.
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