The genus Echinacea (Echinacea) includes endemic species in the Asteraceae (Compositae) family, naturally distributed in North America. Echinacea species are among the perennial plants. Echinacea species, which are in herbaceous form, are those that dry above the ground in winter and grow by giving new shoots again in spring. The height of the plants is between 80-100 cm. Echinacea is a species that forms a large number of branches (20-40 depending on the species) and has conical flowers at the end of each branch with a specific structure and color. Visual features come to the fore with these flowers at the ends of the branches. The stem part of the echinacea plant is hairy, the leaf tissue is thick, and the roots are quite strong.
The commercially used parts of echinacea are the flower, root and leaves. Echinacea extract contains caffeic acid derivatives, flavonoids, alkylamides and essential oils. Caffeic acid types: ρ-coumaric acid, chicoric acid, chlorogenic acid, caftaric acid and tartaric acid compounds. In addition, this plant species also contains essential oil components. These components are β-myrcene, germacrene-D, α-pinene and β-pinene compounds. The species with red and purple flowers contain more chicoric acid than the species with light color. Echinacea has properties such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, immunostimulatory and anti-viral.