HOW ABOUT HERBS 



Echinacea 



Tanya ]ackson 



T'he age-old process of trial-and 

 error has helped mankind find 

 many potentially useful plants. One 

 of these is Echinacea angustifoUa and 

 its relatives. American Indians are 

 credited with discovering that the 

 roots of this native plant had useful 

 medicinal properties. Then, about 

 1870, Dr. H.C.F. Meyer of Pawnee 

 City, Nebraska, introduced it into 

 general medicine as a "blood puri- 

 fier," which he marketed and 

 claimed was useful for treating al- 

 most any condition — rheumatism, 

 dyspepsia, dizziness, pain, migraine 

 headaches, infections of wounds 

 and sores, rattlesnake bites and 

 bee stings, tumors, syphilis, gan- 

 grene, typhoid fever, malaria, hy- 

 drophobia, and hemorrhoids (A 

 Treatise on Echinacea, ).U. Lloyd, 

 Lloyd Brothers, Cincinnati, 1924|. 

 During the 1920s, this plant was 

 one of the country's most popular 

 plant drugs. Although the scope of 

 usefulness has been narrowed 

 greatly, echinacea is still in use to- 

 day, taken internally to build up 

 the immune system and used topi- 

 cally for its wound healing action. 



How does one find out what part 

 of the herb to use? How bold must 

 one be, considering that some herbs 

 are potent enough to kill rather 

 than cure? in the case of echinacea, 

 chewing the roots left an acrid tin- 

 gling sensation on the tongue, 

 which led early settlers and mid- 

 western farmers to try using this 

 "peculiar" plant to numb pain and 

 heal snake bites (one of their more 

 common problems) The native 

 Americans were using it for this 

 purpose as well, along with apply- 

 ing the juice of the plant to burns, 

 and to their hands, feet, and 

 mouths to make them insensitive to 

 heat in order to hold, walk on, or 



"swallow" hot coals and fire during 

 ceremonies [Rhodale's Illustrated Ency- 

 clopedia of Herbs, 1987| Obviously, 

 seeing this use and observing that 

 patients survived the treatment led 

 to other usages. 



To this day, herbalists continue 

 to grow and use echinacea for its 

 healing and immune system ben- 

 efits. Dr Paul Lee, founder of the 

 Platonic Academy of Herbal Stud- 

 ies, describes it as "our leading 

 herb on the list of immuno-stimu- 

 lants." 



Most of the important studies 

 and modern research of this herb 

 have been done in Germany, pri- 

 marily with dosages and prepara- 

 tions made from the fresh stems 

 and roots of the plant Echinacea's 

 healing properties are so valued in 

 Germany that it has been approved 

 by Kommission E, similar to our 

 FDA, and the costs of prescriptions 

 are reimbursed by insurance com- 

 panies. The preparations are in- 

 tended to be used for injection or 

 applied locally or taken by mouth 

 Injections are not yet available in 

 the United States (my source is The 

 Honest Herbal, by Varro E. Tyler. 

 PhD — the third edition, published 

 in 1993), although the uses of 

 herbal medicines are rapidly 

 changing. 



Like St. John's wort, echinacea is 

 a popular herbal drug available at 

 local health food stores, at over- 

 the-counter shelves at drugs stores, 

 and even at area Wal-Marts. You 

 will find it in liquid forms as a tinc- 

 ture in alcohol, in syrups (as in 

 Echinacea Ginger Wonder Syrup for 

 Colds and Flu, manufactured by 

 New Chapter, Inc., Brattleboro, Ver- 

 mont), and in capsules. C. Hobbs, 

 in The Echinacea Handbook (1989), 

 states that echinacea in powdered 



form in a capsule would probably 

 be relatively inactive: it's the liquid 

 form that stimulates lymphatic tis- 

 sue in the mouth, thereby initiating 

 an immune response. 



The current most common use 

 for this herb is to fight off colds or 

 flu. A tincture or syrup is probably 

 easiest to use. (Some companies 

 sell false echinacea, which comes 

 from a type of chrysanthemum and 

 does not have true healing proper- 

 ties. To test the tincture, put a 

 drop of it on your tongue. If it 

 tingles and feels slightly numb, the 

 tincture is probably genuine.) 

 About 20-30 drops of extract or 

 tincture taken in water or tea twice 

 a day is the normal dose for adults. 

 It's a good idea to consult a health 

 professional and to be aware that 

 there is the possibility of an aller- 

 gic reaction, although there seems 

 to be little problem. 



Nine species of echinacea grow 

 in the United States. Along with E. 

 angustifoUa, E. palladia, known as 

 pale-flowered echinacea, and E. 

 purpurea, or purple coneflower, are 

 the most common garden varieties. 

 The plant is suitable for most North 

 American outdoor gardens, hardy to 

 zone 3, and attractive in perennial 

 borders, native plant gardens, and 

 informal areas. Its flower is highly 

 beneficial to bees and butterflies 

 and, in winter, if the gardener 

 leaves the sturdy seedhead intact, 

 finches and other small birds will 

 feed on the seeds. 



With the growing interest in 

 herbal medicines and natural thera- 

 peutic remedies, there's no doubt 

 that this attractive plant will con- 

 tinue to hold attention. 



Tanya ]ackson, well-known area herbalist, 

 can be reached at 603-431-801 1. 



FEBRUARY ■ MARCH ■ 1998 



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