Echinacea herbs and it’s medical properties
It is an herbaceous plant. It belongs to the family Asteraceae. They are in common called Coneflower. It is one amongst the nine species of the genus. It is mainly found in parts of Northern, central, and eastern America. They have large flowers. The composite flowers show showy heads. From the early summer to the late summer they blossom. In certain herbal medicines these species are used.
Echinacea Properties
The name comes from the Greek word echino. It means Spiny. Due to presence of the central disk which is spiny in nature the term echino is used. They are highly tolerable to drought so they are drought tolerable herbaceous plants. They are perennial. They can grow from 1 – 2 m in their height.
- Echinacea herbal plants are healing efficient.
- Also known as purple coneflowers
- Make sure you know the side effects of the plant.
- Using echinacea as a medicine you can reduce the chance you could get a cold by 50% (by half!)
Some other properties: they have a lanceolate or an elliptically structured leaves. Their length is 10-20 cm. Their breadth is 1.5-10cm. With purple, sometimes yellow or white florets.
The composite inflorescence flower is seen, which is the character of most of the members of the family of the Asteraceae. They are mostly purple and at times they may be white or yellow. There is prominent arrangement of the florets. Their heads are somewhat arranged in a cone-shaped manner. This is because the downward pointing of the ray florets of the petals, that is the ray florets are reflexed, when the head of the flower is open.
What can medical Echinacea cure?
Visit the alternative medical healing school website if you want to learn more. There are certain medicinal values of Echinacea. They act against cold. They cut short the duration of the affected cold and in average it reduces the cold by 1.4 days. There are also reports that extract from the Echinacea has almost no significant effect clinically. It is a belief that the Echinacea is an immunostimulator. It is said to be an immunostimulator because it helps to stimulate the immune system of the body which are non specific in nature. They also help in warding the infections off. There is a problem with the longevity of the usage of the Echinacea usage. It has many antimicrobial properties. It is one of the eclectic medicines since the middle of the 19th century. It could be used for snakebite.
Side Effects of Echinacea
Even in the treatment of the anthrax and to relieve certain types of pain. It slowly became popular as an herbal treatment in parts of Europe and America. It was also used in the treatment of sore throats, in the treatment of headaches. It was used even as analgesics by certain groups of the tribes. Their chemical composition mainly consists of phenol. Other compositions are polysaccharides and alkyl amides. There are certain side effects due to usage of the Echinacea. They are mostly allergic to many people. It includes asthma attacks, anaphylaxis, leucopenia, myalgia, arthralgia, nausea, dysuria, dizziness and abdominal pain. They occur infrequently. They may be mild. It should be avoided by people who are affected by disorders of the immune system, disorders of the connective tissue. Its combination with an immunosuppressant is very harmful to health and it should be avoided.
Echinacea (purple coneflower)
These are the various medicinal importance of Echinacea. Although there are certain important medicinal roles of Echinacea, there are side effects which make it very deadly. So the use of Echinacea should be done under supervised conditions.
