Most of us have used or heard of echinacea during our wellness journeys, either as a tea or a tincture. Or, maybe you’ve just noticed this enchanting garden decoration as you take a neighborhood stroll. This attractive coneflower is native to our area and immensely beneficial to our wellbeing. Beyond the benefit of its beauty in our natural landscapes, echinacea is an excellent pollinator ally, and all parts of it are medicinally beneficial. Indigenous Americans were the first to use echinacea for its medicinal benefits centuries ago. In modern times, conventional medical circles held it in high regard and used it prolifically before the introduction of antibiotics in the 1950s. Whether it’s for health reasons or used to enhance your garden’s appearance, echinacea is a powerful plant ally to have on hand. There are several types of echinacea, but typically, when discussing its medicinal benefits, we’re talking about Echinacea purpurea.

Common name: Echinacea 

Latin name: Echinacea purpurea

Part Used: Flowers, leaves, roots

Benefits: Anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, stimulates immune function, wound-healing, gut-protective, most known for its benefits in fighting off colds and flu

Taste: The root is slightly sweet, pungent, and aromatic; tingles on the tongue

Energetics: Cooling, drying, stimulating

History:

Archaeological records suggest that Indigenous peoples have used echinacea in North America for over 400 years. Traditionally used as a cure-all in addition to wound care, echinacea grew in popularity in the 18th and 19th centuries to help combat growing numbers of illnesses, such as scarlet fever, syphilis, malaria, blood poisoning, and diphtheria. It first gained popularity on the market as Meyers Blood Purifier, where it was known to combat rheumatism and rattlesnake bites.1 Today, practitioners continue to use it as one of the most popular plant medicines in the natural medicine world, and interestingly, many in Germany use it even in conventional medicine

Medicinal Benefits:

Today, echinacea is used to stimulate the immune system and heal wounds. Typically, herbalists suggest taking echinacea in some form, such as a tincture or tea, at the onset of cold symptoms like swollen glands, mental fogginess, and low-grade fevers. It also has the ability to help protect and heal the gut lining from harmful micro-organisms, and it may even help reduce inflammatory allergic reactions due to mild food allergies.2 Echinacea also contains a constituent known as cichoric acid; this compound has been shown to stimulate a process called “phagocytosis.” This is just a fancy term for a process where specific cells in the body begin to essentially eat and neutralize invading bacteria.3  This ability to neutralize harmful intruders in the body is why echinacea is typically the go-to choice for herbal medicine at the onset of illness symptoms.

Emotional Component:

Echinacea has long been an herb of strength and self-identity. Due to the pace of our modern age, we can sometimes lose touch with ourselves and our greater purpose. Thus, practitioners often use echinacea in flower essences to help individuals reconnect with themselves and solidify their sense of identity. It’s also used to help break free of and release outdated personal stories, emotions, and toxic attachments that are prohibiting positive growth and self-realization.

Have you read about our other Herbs of the Month? If not, click below to read about:

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Now that we’re walking gently into September, the sun’s shadows are starting to get a bit sharper. The mornings stay dark a little longer, and the sounds of the annual autumn migrations hang in the air. This revolution into autumn brings more than just a golden light to the air. It also brings a burst of goldenrod flowers to our natural landscapes. These flowers line the edges of our highways, sneak into our gardens, and joyfully dot the landscapes in front of us just about everywhere we go. There’s a quiet truth that our bones know. The earth gives us just what we need, just when we need it. Not only are these golden flowers beautiful heralds of autumn, but they’re also little packets of natural medicine right when we need it most. As pollen counts increase, goldenrod is there to help alleviate our allergy symptoms and so many more symptoms of the seasonal transition. Goldenrod is definitely a healing herb of the autumn!

Common name: Goldenrod 

Latin name: Solidago canadensis

Part Used: Flowers and leaves

Benefits: Diuretic, clears excess mucous, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, clears excess gas, wound-heal, and helps induce sweating to aid in detoxification

Taste/Energetics: Warming, drying, astringent, slightly bitter

History: Goldenrod has a long history of being used by Indigenous populations as a wound healer. Its name, “solidago,” is actually from the Latin word for “to make whole.” The Omaha indigenous people used goldenrod as a sign in their floral calendar. While they were away on their summer buffalo hunt, they would use the local flora to give them signs and signals. As soon as goldenrod began to pop up, they knew their corn was ripening back home, and it was time to return. During Elizabethan times, goldenrod was already well known beyond its capabilities as a healing herb of autumn. As a native plant to North America, goldenrod’s powdered leaves and flowers were exported to London for quite a heavy price. In colonial America, colonists would drink goldenrod tea, or “Liberty Tea,” as they began to call it, after the Boston Tea Party. It was so popular that they even began to export it to China. 

Benefits: Goldenrod has been traditionally used by different Indigenous groups for a number of ailments. Topically, it’s been an important healer of sores, infections, aches, burns, and other wounds. Internally, it’s been used as a diuretic, meaning it helps move toxins through our body systems to be expelled through urination. As such, it’s beneficial for many urinary issues, as well as respiratory and digestive issues. Modern uses of goldenrod really focus on its powerful decongestant abilities. It’s often a go-to for clearing sinus complications, allergies, and flu symptoms. Infusing goldenrod with sage (making a strong tea) is an effective gargle for sore throats and laryngitis (1).

Goldenrod is also a useful digestive agent. Due to its high tannin count and anti-inflammatory properties, it can help alleviate diarrhea symptoms. Tannins are drying and astringent, two modalities that are helpful with diarrhea, gas, bloating, and indigestion. Using goldenrod as a tea can also help stimulate and ease digestion. 

Herbs are helpful not only for the physical body but also for the emotional and spiritual body. Emotionally, goldenrod inspires a sense of self-trust and confidence, especially for those having trouble finding a strong sense of self and identity. Our identities and values often mirror our surroundings. For this, Goldenrod boosts inner knowing and helps solidify identity away from peer pressure. 

Herbs and plants, like Goldenrod, have a beautiful way of helping the physical, emotional, and spiritual body. In our exploration of these remarkable allies, we appreciate you joining us for the second herb of this series. If there are other herbs you’re interested in learning more about go ahead and reach out to us and we’ll add them to our future writings.

And if you want to include more herbal medicine into your health or existing care plans, our naturopathic doctors at Richmond Natural Medicine have extensive knowledge of herbal remedies and can customize blends that are specific and individualized for you. For more information on becoming a new patient or getting back on the schedule, call our front desk at 804-977-2634.

Related Reading

Check out some of our practitioner’s favorite herbal teas!

Can’t shake the allergy fog? Here are a few of our favorite tips and tricks for handling all of the ragweed this fall.

If you missed our August Herb of the Month, click here to read about Agrimony!

1. McIntyre, A. The Complete Herbal Tutor: The Ideal Companion for Study and Practice (Octopus Books, 2010).

Medicinal herbs exist everywhere, dotting our landscapes as gentle reminders from nature that they’re here and ready to help. Walking outside, no matter where you live – city, country, desert, forest, etc. – you can see medicinal plants dwelling in the cracks and the open spaces, wherever they can find a home. Their bloom cycle is tied to the seasons, inhaling and exhaling with the earth’s rotations. We are happy to begin a new series to share an herb of the month to foster your education on naturally derived herbs all around you. Let’s take a walk together and explore our first herb, kicking off our monthly learning series!

Common name: Agrimony 

Latin name: Agrimonia eupatoria

Part Used: Leaf

Benefits: Mucosal Membranes, Digestive System, Liver, Gallbladder, Urinary Tract, Nervous System, Emotionally uplifting

Taste/Energetics: Bitter, Astringent, Cooling, Drying, Nervine Relaxant

History: Agrimony’s small yellow star-shaped flowers have been used in Western herbalism for centuries. Written accounts of its benefits date back to the 5th century. Since the age of antiquity, agrimony has been recommended to individuals for complications with ulcers and liver and gallbladder diseases. The Elizabethan poet Michael Drayton once hailed it as an “all-heal.” This herb can be found in writings spanning massive time periods, from the days of ancient Greece up to British folklore. 

Benefits: Agrimony is a gentle herb in the rose family, brought to the Americas from Europe for its many medicinal properties. Topically, its leaves can be ground into a poultice to support wound care, prevent scarring, or dry up certain topical infections like infections. Internally, you can infuse agrimony into a tea and benefit from its gentle support for digestion, breathing, urination, as well as chronic non-healing wounds. Energetically, agrimony is cooling, drying, and astringent within the body. It can help combat conditions like diarrhea, lung inflammation, liver conditions, bleeding disorders, skin ailments, and support the mucous membranes (mouth, eyes, nose, lungs, and stomach). This is partly due to the relatively high concentration of tannins in agrimony. Tannins typically taste pretty bitter and work to tighten the mucosal linings around your gastrointestinal tract.

Additionally, a bitter-tasting herb often indicates a relationship with the liver and gallbladder. This promotes healthy digestion and extending these benefits to urinary tract issues and kidney conditions. As a bitter and tonifying herb, Agrimony can restore, tighten, and invigorate loose tissue back to a balanced state. Its high tannin count increases gastric secretions, essentially readying your stomach to digest correctly and promoting nutrient absorption. Additionally, agrimony is known as a nervine relaxant, meaning it soothes the nerves. So, on the one hand, agrimony is a wonderful tonifier for tissues that are too lax. And on the other hand, it can down-regulate nervous system overstimulation. Isn’t that amazing? 

Herbs are useful not only for the physical body but also for the emotional and spiritual body. Emotionally, agrimony has been recommended for individuals who may hide their displeasure or unhappiness behind masks of cheerfulness, not ready to let anyone see their darker sides. In some cases, individuals may also turn to alcohol or other drugs to help them seem happy and upbeat. According to the concepts of flower essences, agrimony’s positive potential is to help individuals accept the darker sides of their lives and personalities. This can also help make peace with the ebbs and flows of life, finding gratitude.

Herbs and plants have a beautiful way of helping the physical, emotional, and spiritual body. Thanks for taking a walk with us for our first herb of this series. Reach out to us if there are other herbs you’re interested in learning more about, and we’ll add them to our future writings. 

And if you want to include more herbal medicine into your health or existing care plans, our naturopathic doctors at Richmond Natural Medicine have extensive knowledge of herbal remedies and can customize blends that are specific and individualized for you. For more information on becoming a new patient or getting back on the schedule, call our front desk at 804-977-2634

If you’d like to read more, check out our previous post for Heart Healthy Herbs. 

Having trouble sleeping? Take a look at our recommendations for Sleepy Time Herbs!

Avoid that back-to-school slump, here are some Herbs for the Brain.

Read more here for pointers on using Herbs in Your Home and keeping your pantry stocked!