Millions of echinacea roots have been wild harvested over the last decade. The average harvest of Echinacea angustifolia alone was 155,000 pounds per year from 1997 to 2001 (American Herbal Products Association 2003), and this does not include other Echinacea species that we know have been wild harvested. We know from weighing echinacea roots in the field that there are about 100 roots in a pound of dried echinacea root, which would mean that an average of 15.5 million E. angustifolia roots have been harvested per year from 1997 to 2001, and that’s just one species. It is this very high demand and harvest that has driven the discussion of the need for laws to protect against the over-harvest of wild echinacea.
