Sixty images of Echinacea purpurea, Echinacea purpurea; developed as a medicinal plant product in the late 1930s in Germany is considered a nonspecific immune system stimulant; used for wounds; herpes sores; canker sores throat infections; preventative for influenza; colds. A folk remedy for brown recluse spider bites.Native in open woods and thickets in eastern North America to the Midwest; Echinacea purpurea is also widely cultivated as a garden perennial. The entire world's commercial supply of E. purpurea is cultivated.