Echinacea has a rich tradition in the culture of the North American Plains Indians, who used it more than any other plant to help maintain their health during the winter time. They also applied root poultices, used Echinacea mouthwash, and drank the tea. It was prominent in America until the 1940s. The Europeans, who discovered it in the 1930s, still use it extensively.

Botanists named the plant after the hedgehog (Echinus) to describe its prickly, cone-like center. It grows naturally in the Midwest states from western Pennsylvania to Kansas and as far south as Northern Texas. Hundreds of scientific studies have indicated that Echinacea can help support immune function.

In recent years, research has discovered a mechanism by which Echinacea may help. One of the primary defense mechanisms of the body is made of a jelly-like substance called Hyaluronic Acid (HA). HA occurs in the tissues between cells to “cement” them together. There is an enzyme, hyaluronidase, which attacks HA in a w