Echinacea is one of the world's most powerful medicinal herbs. The flowering plant grows wild in Kansas. In fact, one of the nine species of Echinacea is called the Topeka Purple Coneflower. Commentator Rex Buchanan recently read a new book that traces the wild history and growing importance of the plant.
Commentator Rex Buchanan is director emeritus of the Kansas Geological Survey. He was talking about Echniacea and the new book about the plant edited by KU biologist Kelly Kindscher. The book is titled, Echinacea: Herbal Medicine with a Wild History.
Kindscher's co-authors on the new book include KU colleagues and several of his former graduate students from KU, inducing Rebecca Wittenberg, Dana Price, Rachel Craft, Congmei Cao and Dr. Jeanne Drisko, director of the KU Integrative Medicine program at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
Production assistance provided by J. Schafer, Joanna Fewins and KPR News intern Cameron McGough, a KU student studying journalism and music.