Witnessed by: Western
Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), of the Asteraceae family. Tall clumping perennial with broad rough leaves and large drooping-rayed purple flowers on a bristly cone; native range: moist prairies, meadows and open woodland of eastern and central North America. Globally recognized as eastern purple coneflower, hedgehog coneflower in English. The part used is aerial parts in flower and root. Coarse herb and root with a faint aromatic scent and a mild tingling acridity, gentler than its narrow-leaved cousin.
In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.
PURPLE CONEFLOWER
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- purple coneflower
- Scientific name
- Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench
- Family
- Asteraceae
Form
- Part used
- aerial parts in flower and root
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Western
- acrid · aromatic · bitter
Temperature
- Western
- cool
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Western
- immune · blood · skin
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Western
- immunomodulant, antimicrobial, alterative, lymphatic, vulnerary, anti-inflammatory
Cautions
- Contraindications
- caution in known allergy to the daisy family; theoretical caution in progressive autoimmune disease
- Toxicity
- very low; well tolerated in the doses used
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