Echinacea (Echinacea purpurea) · Herb Profile

At a glance

Botanical name: Echinacea purpurea
Family: Asteraceae
Part used: Root, Aerial Parts
Taste: Pungent, Bitter
Temperature: Cool
Moisture: Dry

No pre-1900 source found for this reading.

Safety at a glance

In pregnancy

Generally considered safe; limited data

While breastfeeding

Short-term use generally considered compatible with breastfeeding; insufficient long-term data. Not for chronic daily use.

For children

Safe for acute use in children; commonly used

Cautions

Caution in autoimmune disease; avoid with immunosuppressants; theoretical 8-week limit

General contraindications

Avoid first trimester; limited data second/third

Stewardship

Echinacea angustifolia is over-harvested in Great Plains native habitat. Prefer cultivated E. purpurea. Stewardship: the biggest-selling 'native medicinal' becomes a parable of how market demand flattens the land.

In the traditional record

Echinacea (Echinacea angustifolia / purpurea) — central remedy of the Plains indigenous peoples (Lakota, Cheyenne, Comanche) for snakebite, septic wounds, and infectious processes; introduced to Western clinical practice by Dr. H.C.F. Meyer and Dr. John King, and chronicled extensively by the Eclectic physicians as a premier antiseptic and immune stimulant.

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Educational use

The Apothecary is educational and does not constitute medical advice. Nothing here is intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before changing what you take, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or managing a diagnosed condition.

On our sources

These entries draw on public-domain materia medica, most of it published before 1900, alongside a smaller number of modern reference works. Energetic qualities such as warming, cooling, drying and moistening are a traditional framework for describing how a plant behaves in the body, not a laboratory measurement. Where a period source states one, we cite it. Where none does, and for many North American herbs none exists, the value reflects modern herbal consensus rather than a historical text. When we cannot support a caution with real evidence, we say nothing rather than guess.