Please Don't Quote Me By Caralee Aschenbrenner The Purple Coneflower, perhaps, has more aliases than any other wild flower. Here are just a few: echinacea, snakeroot, Kansas snakeroot, black Sampson, scurvy root, narrow-leafed conflower, Indian head, comb flower, black susan, hedge hog. That wide variety of names illustrates how often and impotant the coneflower was utilized by the Native American in the Northern Hemisphere. Each of the names had a specific use and came from a specific tribe. The last four of the above names, for instance, referred to the round, black, spiny seed head. Indian head and comb flower told that the stiff spiny head was actually used to straighten out the tangled hair of the original settler!

The scientific name Echinacea angustifolia DC directs us to realize it is a member of the Asteraceae or Sunflower family and the genus, Echinacea comes from the Greek "echinos," meaning hedge hog because the seed head was black and spiny, like the naimal of that name. The German botanist, Conrad Moench labeled it.

Species names in older literature could be Rudbeckia or Brauneria instead of just Echinacea ... "We can bear witness to the efficacy of the root in the cure of the bite of a rattlesnake or in alleviating pain and reducing tension and inflammation of frozen parts, gunshot wounds, etc.," wrote Edward Denig in part while he lived among the Assiniboin Indians on the Missouri River in Montana for twenty-one years. He claimed, as many did, that the Purple Coneflower was the most important of the midicnal plants that the Indians used anywhere ... "It's virtues are known to all tribes with which we are acquainted and often used with success."

The root was chewed to produce a lot of saliva, then applied to the injured or bitten parts. Comanches, Hidatsas, Crows and Pawnees were all known to chew the root for everything from toothache, sore throats and colds, colic and stomach cramps.

Cheyennes were found to drink a tea of Purple Coneflower for rheumatism, arthritis, mumps and measles. A salve was created for the external treatment of those ailments. Chewing the root produced saliva which, if let trickle down the throat, aided a deep-seated ulcer or internal sores. It was said to cure hydrophobia and putrfied wounds. The Echinacea had more uses than any other known plant.

Folk medicine practitioners or Anglo practitioners popularized the Coneflower almost exclusively though it did not occur quickly. As early as 1859 Dr. Ferdinand Hayden was one of the first physicians to mention Echinacea angustifolia in "Botany Report to the Secretary of War." It was found, he reported, to be discovered abundantly throughout the country. It is very pungent and used effectively by traders and Indians for the cure of the bite of a rattlesnake, etc. The only problem with dr. Hayden's report was that the plant was incorrectly identified! As recently as 1914 another Anglo folk remedy was described by Dr. J.S. Leachman in the "Gleaner" in which he cited early settlers in Oklahoma who "all firmly believed in the virtues of Echinacea root and use it as an aid in nearly every kind of sickness. If a cow or horse does not eat well, the people administer the Echinacea cut up and put in the feed. I have noticed that puny stock treated in this manner soon begin to thrive."

Humans and animals alike apparently benefit from the humble Purple Coneflower that we've been seeing so frequently in their tall pink to purplish stands along the roadsides and in gardens all around. Their curative values perhaps are rarely considered today although lots of folks are "going green" in treating ailments, too. Go Echinacea! There's a long list of ailments the Purple Coneflower could assist if given the correct treatment ... Carbuncles, piles, eczema (wet or dry), erysipelas, gangrene, diphtheria, malaria, mountain fever, typh ... Whoa there! No recommending OTC cures in this day and age. Too risky but apparently one day they were widely used and helped in many ways, if not physically, then psychologically.

It was also recommended as an aphrodisiac. Oh, no. That it induced perspiration and copious salivation may have been mistaken for a love potion. be careful!

Merely enjoy the beauty of those patches of Purple Coneflower and just ponder what might be derived from them medicinally.

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