Benefits of Echinacea Angustifolia
Echinacea Angustifolia is believed by some to be a miracle plant. The plant's healing potential is what makes it one of the most popular alternative nutritional supplement there is. Largely noted for its ability to boost the immune system in the body and promote its functions, many people use this herb to get healthy and stay healthy. Early settlers learned of its value from the Plains Indians who chewed on the roots of the plant to combat illnesses and rub the macerated plant on their skin to heal wounds and snake bites. Echinacea is an important plant that doesn't do the same thing for everyone, but offers promising results to some people.
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Echinacea Angustifolia
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Echinacea Angustifolia, also known as Black Samson and Narrow-leaf Coneflower, is a special kind of herb that many have been using for years to stay healthy. According to the USDA, this Native perennial plant is stout with a dark cone-shaped center. The long thin leaves and pinkish flowers allow the plant to stand-out even more to those who know its appearance.
Benefits
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Echinacea Angustifolia can be used to treat several ailments. The plant is most widely known, though, for its ability to boost and strengthen one's immune system. Echinacea is also known for its properties that promote anti-inflammatory action. Herbalextractsplus.com describes this plant as "nature's best immune system enhancer[.] Echinacea Angustifolia is believed to be the most powerful natural antibiotic," they continue, saying, "Echinacea's antiseptic, antiviral and antifungal qualities help to stimulate the body's resistance to infection, diseases, fever, blood poisoning, common colds and flu."
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History
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From early on in this nation's history, Echinacea was being used by settlers and frontiersmen to cure wounds and sicknesses. Echinacea was also used in quite a few tonics and medicines in the early twentieth century. It was included in the U.S. National Formulary from 1916 to 1950. Many Native American tribes utilized the plant as a cure-all for many ailments, also.
Uses
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Echinacea Angustifolia can be effective treating burns, snake-bites, inflammation, the treatment of herpes, flatulence, upper respiratory infection, vaginal infections, skin ulcers, and some cancers simply by eating the root of the plant according to wildflower.org.
Herbalextractsplus.com boasts of Echinacea Angustifolia's ability to resist infections, blood poisoning, the common cold and the flu, therefore making it a "must-have" herb for everyone.
Echinacea can also be used externally. Although not normally available commercially, injections and topical use can be helpful in improving skin conditions like herpes lesions, sunburn, eczema and wounds.
Mayoclinic.com suggests that Echinacea Angustifolia is useful in treating Upper Respitory Infections as well as boosting immune system functions. Human trials where Echinacea usage reduced the duration and severity of of URI, especially when used at the first sign of symptoms, were cited to support the site's claim.
A Closer Look
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Herbalextractsplus.com purports that Echinacea is so effective because it actually mimics the actions of a chemical the human body produces called interferon, which basically shields cells from viral infection. As an anti-viral, the herb is capable of building-up the body's immune system according to German researchers, by increasing the amount of T-cells, white-blood cells in the body that fight infection, by 30 percent.
An article written by two nurses from the University of Pittsburgh called "About Echinacea" goes into further detail about Echinacea Angustifolia's healing properties, stating that it contains many chemical components such as essential oils, Vitamin B1, B2, and B3, kaempferol, and terpenoids just to name a few, in addition to the natural anti-biotics echinacoside and echinacein, that all allow the plant to neutralize enzymes that invade cells and attack healthy tissues.
Advisory
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A report on mayoclinic.com suggests that people with autoimmune diseases should consult a physician before using this plant. Those who are allergic to plants in the Asteraceae or the Compositae family should probably not consume Echinacea either.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit istockphoto.com - by Eugene Bochkarev
