Echinacea is a North American plant belonging to the Asteraceae family, which also includes daisy, aster, and sunflower. Among some Native American tribes of the Plains and Pacific Northwest, echinacea was traditionally known as “elk root,” inspired by observations of elk interacting with the plant.
Drawing from these observations, echinacea became an important botanical in traditional Indigenous herbal practices and was valued for a wide range of uses. Over time, this knowledge influenced its continued role in North American herbal traditions.
Echinacea root contains a complex variety of phytochemicals responsible
for its effects, including immunostimulating polysaccharides, alkamides,
glycoproteins and flavonoids.
