**2.6** *Echinacea purpurea*

*E. purpurea* (**Figure 7**), also known as Eastern Purple Coneflower, belongs to the *Asteraceae* family [54–56]. It is native to eastern North America [55]. *E. purpurea*  is used for the treatment of respiratory conditions such as common cold (**Table 1**) and other conditions including pain, cancer, toothache, seizures, arthritis, and skin disorders [14, 34, 54]. *E. purpurea* has been approved by the European Medicine Agency Herbal Medicinal Product Committee to be used as prophylactic therapy for the maximum of 10 days for immunostimulation and to prevent cold and other respiratory infections [14]. Pharmacological activities of *E. purpurea* include antiviral, antioxidant, antibacterial, immunomodulatory, antitumor, and antiinflammatory [54, 55]. *E. purpurea* contains phytochemicals such as alkamides, betaine, phenolic compounds, polysaccharides, lipoproteins, saponins, sesquiterpenes, and polyacetylene [55]. *Echinacea* species exerts a soothing effect and could be useful in the relief of respiratory symptoms and common cold [14]. The immunomodulatory activity of *E. purpurea* was reported to be as a result of chicoric acid, polysaccharide, and alkamides (**Table 2**) in a rat study [14]. The use of *Echinacea*

*Traditional Medicinal Plants as the Potential Adjuvant, Prophylactic and Treatment Therapy… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.104491*

**Figure 7***.* Echinacea purpurea. *(A) Flowers and (B) leaves.*

for supplementation is reported to decrease the duration of acute respiratory tract infections and the severity of the disease [57]. The extract of *E. purpurea* (L.) Moench has shown direct antiviral activity against coronaviruses, and the preliminary published findings on human clinical trials covering antiviral activity of *Echinacea* against SARS-CoV-2 further support the use of this plant species against this particular coronavirus [58].
