ABSTRACT
Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 111 Bioactive Compounds and Analytical Methods .......................................................................... 112
Phenolics .............................................................................................................................. 112 Alkamides ............................................................................................................................. 113 Quantitative Analytical Methods .......................................................................................... 113
Botanical and Cultivation Effects on Bioactive Compounds...................................................... 116 Differences between Species and Plant Parts ...................................................................... 116 Cultivation Effects ................................................................................................................ 117 Proposed Quantitative Standards .......................................................................................... 118
Postharvest Handling and Processing Effects on Bioactive Constituents .................................. 118 Handling and Drying ............................................................................................................ 120 Storage .................................................................................................................................. 122 Extraction .............................................................................................................................. 122 Quality of Commercial Products.......................................................................................... 123
Conclusions .................................................................................................................................. 123 Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................ 124 References .................................................................................................................................... 124
Echinacea
preparations, taken as immunostimulants, are among the top 10 selling herbal medicines in the U.S. and Europe (Bauer, 1998; Brevoort, 1998) with an estimate by Blumenthal (2001) of US$58 million in retail sales in the U.S. in 2000. The three species used in this trade are
Echinacea purpurea
,
Echinacea angustifolia,
and
Echinacea pallida
, with the most popular being
E. purpurea
followed by
E. angustifolia
(McGuffin, 2001). For example, in Australia in 2000, 80 MT of
E. purpurea
were used compared to 15 to 20 MT of
E. angustifolia
and less than 1 MT of
E. pallida
(Walker, 2000).
