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Echinacea augustifolia
Echinacea (Asteraceae) is native to North America and consists of nine species (McGregor 1968). E. angustifolia DC, a narrow leafed species, is distributed on barrens and dry prairies from Minnesota to Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, the Dakotas, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.
Three Echinacea species (E. purpurea, E. angustifolia, and E. pallida) have medical properties (Schulthess et al. 1991), and are commercially traded as medicinal plants. Native Americans used echinacea extensively for the treatment of snake and other venomous bites, rabies, toothaches, coughs, soremouth, throat, dyspepsia, colds, colic, headache, and stomach cramps (Hobbs 1989; Kindscher 1989; Foster 1991). European settlers first used echinacea around the beginning of 19th century. By 1921, echinacea preparations were among the most widely sold medicines extracted from an American plant (Flannery 1998). Echinacea appears to have strong anti-inflammatory activity, wound-healing action, stimulates the immune system, and may be effective against some viral and bacterial infections.