2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Echinacea (lat. Echinacea) - a genus of ornamental and medicinal plants of the Asteraceae family. In culture, only one species is especially popular - Echinacea purpurea, previously this species was included in the genus Rudbeckia. Today, echinacea is widely cultivated for the production of medicinal raw materials and as an ornamental crop in many European countries, in Russia and in the North Caucasus. Echinacea roots, leaves and flowers are used in folk medicine and pharmacology.
Characteristics of culture
Echinacea is represented by perennial plants that form a short rhizome, from which many small thin roots depart. Stems are simple, rather strong, strongly branched, densely leafy, bear a large number of alternate green leaves, which have a rough to the touch surface and decrease in size towards the top of the stem. An inflorescence-basket, inherent in all representatives of the Asteraceae family, or Asteraceae.
The receptacle of the inflorescence resembles a hemisphere, the basket itself consists of dark tubular flowers and ligulate flowers of pink, lilac-pink or purple color. Tubular flowers are considered fruiting; they are located in the center of the basket. Echinacea is a sun-loving and heat-loving culture. It boasts high winter-hardy properties, as well as resistance to diseases and pests.
Growing features
As mentioned, Echinacea prefers sunny areas, and thick shade is highly undesirable. The culture is undemanding to soil conditions, but it develops best on loose, moist, water and air permeable, loamy soils with a neutral pH reaction. The culture will not tolerate heavy clay, saline, waterlogged, strongly acidic, light sandy soils. Growing on strongly acidic ones is possible only on condition of preliminary and subsequent (annual) liming.
Echinacea is propagated by seeds and dividing the bush. The second method is most common among gardeners, although the seed method does not cause any particular difficulties. Seeds are sown in open ground in spring. It is possible to grow through seedlings; for this, the seeds are sown in special containers filled with a moist nutrient substrate. Fine-grained washed sand is poured over the seeds. After sowing, abundant watering is carried out from a spray bottle. Seedlings appear together in about 2-3 weeks.
In open ground, seedlings are planted in mid - late May (depending on the region, for example, in the Urals and Siberia, planting should be postponed to the third decade of May - the first decade of June). When sowing echinacea directly into the open ground in the phase of two true leaves, thinning is carried out. Reproduction by dividing the bush is carried out in the spring. After dividing, the material is treated with drugs that stimulate growth and planted in pre-prepared wells. Echinacea care is straightforward. Plants need rare watering (during drought), top dressing (twice a season: the first is carried out in early spring, the second in the budding phase), weeding, loosening, as well as pruning the stems in the fall and mulching the root collar.
Beneficial features
The therapeutic effect of echinacea is due to the presence of a huge amount of useful components, including biologically active substances. It includes essential oils, polysaccharides, phenolic acids, organic acids, alkaloids, phytosterols, inulin, betaine, resins, tannins, etc. Many of these substances are valued for their antiseptic, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory and protective properties.
Most often, echinacea is used to prepare herbal teas, tinctures and decoctions designed to strengthen the immune system and prevent influenza, colds, bronchitis, tonsillitis. Echinacea preparations are useful for both adults and children from 1 year old. Some of them are recommended for kidney and urinary tract diseases, diabetes mellitus, liver and circulatory system diseases. Echinacea is also included in the composition of ointments and other remedies for skin diseases and injuries (eczema, urticaria, psoriasis, cuts, open wounds, burns, boils).
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