HISTORY: According to Melvin Gilmore, an American anthropologist who studied native American medicine in the early part of this century the echinacea was used as a remedy by the Indians more than any other plant in the plains states. The Indians used the plant to treat snakebite, poisonous insect bites and rabies. Native Americans also used the juice of the plant to bathe burns and added the juice to the water sprinkled on coals during traditional "sweats," taken for purification purposes. Accordig to Growing and Using the Healing Herbs by Gaea and Shandor Weiss, some Indians used echinacea juice to make their hands, feet, and mouths insensitive to heat in order to hold, walk on, or "swallow" hot coals and fire during ceremonies. Throughout the development of this country, herbalists have extolled the virtues of echinacea. And at one time it was actually prepared and packaged as a drug. With the advent of new and more effective anti-infectives in the 1930s, however, echinacea fell from popularity among drug companies.

USES: To this day, herbalists continue to grow and use echincea for its healing qualities. It has remained an important medicinal herb over many centuries. The roots are still used in herbal medicine to stimulate the immune system and promote healing. The herb is also used in the treatment of all forms of skin disease. Its most common use, however, is to ward off the onset of the common cold and to alleviate the effects of a sore throat.

Ornamental: Echinaceas have a very slight fragrance and propagate into beautiful, meadowlike beds, if you let them. Because they are easy to care for, can stand hot weather and humidity, and provide a profusion of blooms are suitable for most gardens. They work well in perennial and cut-flower gardens; the natural wild species are very pretty in a native-plant garden or informal areas. You can find them growing at our Log Cabin Village garden in the center cutting garden as well as some of the front beds where they pop among the green herbs.

CULTIVATION: Echinaceas are hardy plants and will grow in any ordinary gardening soil, but they prosper in soil treated with compost and rock phosphate in the spring. They like well-drained soil, full sun to light shade. Plant hardiness zones 3-9.They are easy to start from seed, provided you wait until the air temperature is about 70 degree F before you sow, space about 1 ½ – 2 ft. apart.

Resources: Rodal’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs, 1987 and The Ultimate Herb Book