Echinacea

Native Americans used the species Echinacea angustifolia for a wide variety of problems, including respiratory infections and snakebite, with physicians among the European colonists quickly adding the herb to their repertoire. Echinacea became popular toward the end of the nineteenth century due to the efforts of H. C. F. Meyer, a businessman who promoted an herbal concoction containing E. angustifolia. The product uses, however, were exaggerated, and his poorly written nature of labeling helped define the characteristics of a "snake oil" remedy.

In the 1920s, a respected medicinal herb manufacturing company, the Lloyd Brothers Pharmaceutical Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, began making an herbal extract of E. angustifolia root. The company reported the Echinacea medicine as its largest selling product during that time. In Europe, physicians took up the American interest in E. angustifolia with enthusiasm. Demand soon outstripped the supply coming from America, and in an attempt to rapidly plant echinacea locally, the German firm Madeus and Company mistakenly purchased a quantity of Echinacea purpurea seeds, and by chance, Echinacea purpurea became the largest selling and most studied of the echinacea species. Another family member, Echinacea pallida, is also used in medicinal products and research in Europe.

Echinacea products were one of the most widely used cold and flu remedies in the United States until its replacement by sulfa containing antibiotics in the 1950s.

Most frequently reported uses include: antiviral, immune stimulant, infections and sore throats. Other reported uses include: abscessess, anti-inflammatory, boils, skin disorders, tonsilities and to heal wounds.