Abstract
The Echinacea plant is a member of the Compositae family; the three species of medicinal interest being Echinacea angustifolia, Echinacea purpurea, and Echinacea pallida. Echinacea angustifolia has been used therapeutically for centuries by Native Americans as a remedy for eye conditions, snake bites, insect stings, infected wounds, eczema, enlarged glands, mumps, and rabies. It was also used as a painkiller for a variety of conditions from stomachaches to epilepsy. In the early 20th century, Echinacea was used by a group of physicians known as the “Eclectics,” whose medicinal practice relied primarily on the use of plants and their disease-healing properties. During the Eclectic era, Echinacea was used to treat a variety of kidney and urinary tract conditions, chronic bacterial infections, and syphilis.1 From the 1930s-1970s, antibiotic development resulted in a sharp decline in Echinacea use, but due to a subsequent disenchantment with the medical establishment, an herbal medicine “renaissance” in the 1980s led to renewed interest in Echinacea’s benefits. Echinacea research during the last 20 years has focused on its immune-stimulating properties. Currently, Echinacea is being used to combat bacterial, viral, protozoan, and fungal infections, as an anti-inflammatory agent, and as a possible chemopreventive agent.