Plant Allies: Focus on Echinacea

March 3, 2024

Update: 8-10-26

Plant Allies: Focus on Echinacea

Have you ever smelled an echinacea plant in full bloom? It's one of the sweetest most intoxicating summer smells. Pollinating insects swarm echinacea plants as if they were an all you can eat for free buffet. I've never seen so many different types of wild bees as I see on the echinacea flowers we have in the big garden. From green and blue to bumble bees and honey bees, wasps and butterflies, humming birds and so many more.

I started growing echinacea in the big garden a few years back, and it's one of those plants that rewards you for being patient. The first year it barely does anything — a few modest leaves, no flowers to speak of. It's putting all its energy underground, building up the root system that's actually the medicine. By year three, though, you've got tall purple coneflowers waist-high and swarming with pollinators, and a root system substantial enough to start harvesting from (in fall, after the plant has died back, and only ever a portion of the patch so it keeps coming back stronger).

Echinacea is one of my favorite plant allies for innate immune support. I find when taken before a cold comes, it helps to boost immune function due to its antiviral properties (slowing down virus replication), and I often don't come down with a full blown cold. I must note though that there are no studies showing echinacea's efficacy during an acute cold. Once your immune system is actually fighting something, there are other herbs to turn to for support.

Though immune support is one of the current popular uses of echinacea, it was not the original use for this incredible plant. Its main claim to fame is alterative (or blood purifier) and lymphatic (helps clear stagnant lymph nodes). You might be wondering what the heck "blood purifying" means. Well, think about when you have an infection with swelling, or a skin infection that leads to a boil. Echinacea really shines when it comes to helping clear infection debris (dead, broken-apart cells) from the blood. It stimulates phagocytosis — the body's clean-up crew system.

The more they study echinacea, the more incredible it seems to be. One of its original uses was for snake bites, spider bites, and insect stings. It can inhibit the tissue-destroying enzyme hyaluronidase. Obviously if you get bit by a rattlesnake, go to the hospital! But if you find you've woken up with a spider bite or a nasty bee sting, a cool echinacea wash can take some of the fire out of it.

How I Actually Use It

Tincture is my go-to for immune support — a dropperful in a little water at the first tickle of a scratchy throat, every couple of hours for a day or two. Fresh root or flower, chopped and covered in high-proof alcohol, steeped four to six weeks and strained, is easy to make at home if you're growing your own.

Tea works well too, especially the aerial parts (leaf and flower). It's milder than the tincture but pleasant to sip, and I like blending it with a little mint or lemon balm to soften echinacea's tongue-tingling zing — that slight numbing sensation is totally normal and actually a sign of a good, potent preparation.

Wash is what I reach for topically — a strong cooled tea or diluted tincture applied to a bite, sting, or minor skin irritation with a clean cloth.

A few honest notes: echinacea is in the daisy family, so if you have a ragweed allergy, patch-test first. It's also generally not recommended long-term for folks with autoimmune conditions, since it stimulates immune activity — always worth a conversation with your care provider if that applies to you.