Echinacea angustifolia grows to 30 inches in height (shorter in drier locations). It is a taprooted perennial found on open, dry prairies in Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming, the Dakotas, eastern Montana, eastern Colorado, and parts of Canada.

New, Old And Forgotten Remedies

By Edward Pollock Anshutz
Presented by Dr Robert Séror

Natural Order : Compositae.

Common Name : Pale Purple Cone-flower.

Preparation : The whole plant including the root is pounded to a pulp and macerated in two parts by weight of alcohol.

This rather famous drug first came to notice as "Meyers's Blood Purifier"; the proprietor did not know the name of the drug used and sent a whole plant to. Professors King and Lloyd, of Cincinnati, who identified it as Echinacea Angustifolia, commonly known as :

"cone flower,"

"black Sampson,"

"nigger head," etc.

If we may believe, all that has been printed about it the remedy is a veritable cure-all.

"Narrow Purple Coneflower"

Asteraceae Family - Echinacea from the Greek word for "sea urchin" or "hedgehog" referring to the spiny chaff at the center of these flowers. Purpurea also from the Greek for the word meaning "purple".

Favors open prairies and dry open woods of the Tallgrass region and blooms from May to October. Grows to two to three feet in height with pale purple to purple flowers.

The root of Echinacea angustifolia was used by the Plains Indians as a pain killer for toothaches and sore throats. Chewing the root causes the tongue, mouth and throat to be numbed. It was also used as a blood purifer and to trat snakebite, blood poisoning and cancers.