Echinacea is commonly Known as Purple Coneflower or sometimes Black Sampson. It is native to the regions of North America in the western Ohio area. It is a perennial belonging to the aster family and grows 2-3 feet high with a single stout bristly hair stem. The leaves are roughly 8 inches long, narrowing towards the ends. They tend to be thick deeply veined, and rough and hairy. The single whitish rose to pale purple flower blooms from July to October. The taste is at first sweet then tingly, somewhat like aconite, but without the lingering benumbing effects that can occur if administered incorrectly. It has a faint aromatic odor and should not be used after the odor and taste have disappear. Echinacea contains insulin-bearing parenchyma tissue.

The root and the dried rhizome are used medicinally for all diseases caused by impurities in the blood. It acts as a diaphoretic, sialagogue and alternative. Native practitioners and naturopaths consider Echinacea to be a natural herbal antitoxin extremely effective for any internal or external condition that indicates sepsis such as septic infections and all types of septicemia. It is also considered excellent in the treatment of blood poisoning, carbuncles, cellular abscesses, adynamic fever, typhoid fever, salpingitis, cancerous cachexia, and for any fevers or conditions that produce a bluish discoloration of the mucous membranes. The freshly scraped Echinacea root was used by the Sioux to treat hydrophobia, septicemia and snakebite.

Echinacea is prepared by steeping 1 teaspoonful of the granulated root in a cup of boiling water for 30 minutes and then straining. 1 Tablespoonful can be taken internally 3 to 6 times a day. Tincture: 5-10 minims. It can also be used as an antiseptic to bathe externally effected areas and then applied.

Homeopathically it can be used as a tincture of the whole fresh plant for appendicitis, rabid animal bites, bedsores, blood poisoning, boils, carbuncles, diphtheria, entericfever, gangrene, poisoned wounds, pyoemia, rhus poisoning, scarlatina, septicemia, snakebite, struma, syphilis, typhoid, ulcers and effects of vaccinations.