Also known as coneflower and snakeroot, Echinacea is a North American perennial herb that is valued as a colorful and stately garden ornamental as well as for its antioxidant compounds in the leaf and root. While the root is most often tinctured, the aerial parts of the plant are typically taken as tea.

Europeans were introduced to the plant in the mid-19th century by various Native American peoples, who used the herb for centuries for various ailments. Although the American Medical Association declared the medicinal use of Echinacea as quackery in 1910, it became one of the most popular herbals in Europe and North American in the 1920s and remains one of the most popular today.