6 Ways to use Echinacea That Aren’t a Cure For the Common Cold
We’re all tired of hearing about the tea.
Echinacea I dried from the garden is looking mighty moody today and I love it. Can you even with that color?
A History of Indigenous Use
The name Echinacea comes from the Greek word echinos, a word used to describe the nature of a hedgehog or sea urchin (referring to the bristly, pokey cone at Echinacea’s center). This North American native plant, also called coneflower, has been used extensively by indigenous populations for all manners of ailments. In Western tribes like the Ute, coneflowers are associated with elk and called “elk root,” due to the belief that wounded elk seek them out as medicine. Roots were used as traditional healing herbs by many tribes, especially in the Great Plains and Midwest, to treat many types of swelling, burns, and pain. Coneflower has also been chewed ritually during sweatlodge ceremonies and is considered one of the sacred Life Medicines of the Navajo tribe.