Echinacea: The Hedgehog Flower

Echinacea is a tall, striking herb with purple-pink flowers, ready to harvest in the height of summer. For many people, it is synonymous with herbal remedies for colds and flu, and it was one of the first remedies I discovered for myself as a teenager.

After contracting a particularly nasty virus, I began exploring herbal remedies and bought myself a tincture of echinacea. I would take a few drops in a cup of fennel tea, and the combination soon became a little wellbeing ritual: something I relied on when I was feeling under the weather, but also genuinely enjoyed. Echinacea has since become one of the best-known herbal remedies for supporting the immune system, particularly during the colder months.

But this is not a plant whose story begins in the modern health-food shop

Echinacea has a long history of traditional use among Indigenous peoples of North America, who used the plant for a variety of ailments, including infections, wounds and snake bites. The roots are particularly distinctive. When crushed or chewed, they release compounds that produce a warm, pungent, peppery sensation on the tongue, followed by a slight numbing effect. This characteristic sensation is thought to have made the root useful traditionally for toothache, as well as for treating wounds and bites.

Modern research has found echinacea equally intriguing. Despite its reputation for immune-supporting properties, it remains something of an enigma to chemists. The plant contains a complex mixture of compounds that appear to interact with the immune system, but no single molecule has been identified as solely responsible for its effects. Instead, echinacea is generally understood as a synergistic herb: one whose activity comes from the combined action of many constituents rather than one isolated compound.

This is one reason herbalists tend to value the plant as a whole rather than reducing it to a single active ingredient in a pill.

The roots, leaves, flowers and stems, the aerial parts, can all be used. For a simple herbal tea, however, I prefer the leaves and flowers. The roots can be surprisingly peppery and produce that characteristic tingling, slightly numbing sensation, whereas the aerial parts make a much gentler brew. The leaves and flowers have a mild, floral and slightly grassy flavour, and are more pleasant when blended with fragrant herbs.

Echinacea has also had quite a journey before arriving in the modern herbal repertoire

The plant entered European botanical collections during the 17th century, although it certainly wasn't always called echinacea. One of its earliest recorded appearances in Britain is in 1699, when Jacob Bobart the Younger, Keeper of the Oxford Physic Garden, published the beautiful botanical illustration you see here. He called the plant Dracunculus Virginianus latifolius.

As botanical science developed during the 18th century, the plant was classified within the genus Rudbeckia, another member of the sunflower family (Asteraceae), and became known as Rudbeckia purpurea. Eventually, botanists recognised that it possessed characteristics distinct enough to warrant its own genus. And so Echinacea purpurea was born.

Which brings us to my favourite little detail

The name Echinacea comes from the Ancient Greek ekhinos, a word that could mean both ‘hedgehog’ and ‘sea urchin’. The word was used rather wonderfully as a general term for round, bristly creatures, whether found on land or in the sea.

And if you've ever looked closely at an echinacea flower, you'll understand why.

Its prickly central cone can look rather like a tiny hedgehog, or, depending on your imagination, a sea urchin. Whichever one resonates with you, I think we can agree that ‘hedgehog flower’ is a pretty good name for a plant.