The Best Herbal Immune Stimulants for Cold & Flu Season

Spilanthes has been one of my top ten herbal allies for the past two decades—I became a devotee the first year I began growing it and using it for medicine. Its leaves and gumdrop-shaped flowers can be called upon for a wide spectrum of infectious illnesses; including colds, flu, sinus infections, and ear infections. Clinical studies demonstrate that spilanthes has strong effects against pathogenic bacteria.

One of the most common ways I use spilanthes is to augment the body’s internal immune defenses. I typically combine it with other immune-stimulating herbs like echinacea (Echinacea purpurea) and honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica). At the first sign of an achy throat or the sniffles, I add spilanthes to homemade saline gargles and neti pot solutions, along with goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis).

Remember that higher doses—to the tune of 3 to 4 droppersful of the tincture every few hours for the first day or two—are often necessary to fight infection and avoid antibiotic use. If an infection does take hold, I add other antimicrobial herbs like usnea (Usnea spp.), goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis), and honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) to the formula.

Be forewarned that the tincture and fresh plant will set your mouth to drool! Spilanthes is a traditional toothache remedy because of its antimicrobial, numbing, and stimulating qualities. Along with the stimulation of blood to the gums, the herb will also prompt copious salivation.

The roots, seeds and fresh flowers of echinacea are all medicinal and make a tingly tasting, immune-stimulating tea or tincture. Echinacea can be used to fight any infection in the body, but is particularly effective against infections of the upper respiratory tract. I use it as a short-term remedy for warding off colds and flu. Studies show that echinacea is safe and effective against the common cold and that it is protective against lowered immunity due to stress.

Herbalist Rosemary Gladstar reminds us that echinacea is both “preventative and curative.”¹ Unfortunately, many people stop taking it once they are sick, thinking it can’t help them anymore. However, echinacea stimulates many aspects of our immune system to fight infection more quickly and continues to be an important ally even once we become ill. I often combine it with spilanthes (Acmella oleracea) to round out its immunostimulating qualities.

Echinacea is readily available anywhere herbal teas and tinctures are sold. Please only buy the cultivated root, as several echinacea species have been over-harvested from the wild. If you make your own medicines, I recommend using freshly harvested echinacea from the garden rather than dried, as I find the fresh preparations to be more potent. I like to combine the root tincture with the seed tincture in equal parts.

I use Japanese honeysuckle flowers to address hot, inflamed conditions like head colds and the flu, as well as a range of related infections—laryngitis, sinusitis, tonsillitis, pneumonia, bronchitis, croup, and whooping cough. The fresh blooms are powerfully antimicrobial, cooling, and anti-inflammatory—making them specific for malaise and feverish conditions.

They are one of the most widely used medicinal herbs in the world, especially in China where the herb is extremely popular, both with trained herbalists and as an over-the-counter herbal medicine. Japanese honeysuckle’s popularity amongst western herbalists primarily comes from being inspired by traditional Chinese herbalists.

For a scientific review of Japanese honeysuckle’s antimicrobial benefits, visit this link.

Japanese honeysuckle is a common invasive plant here in North America, but you won’t find its medicine readily available in commerce except in establishments that sell Chinese medicine. Thus, you’ll likely need to harvest your own. The flowers can be gathered as buds and as opened blooms, and tinctured fresh in alcohol. In Chinese medicine, the buds are considered to be the most potent, but I find the buds and the freshly-opened flowers to be similar medicinally. Honeysuckle is also effective as a tea; I combine it with mint (Mentha spp.) and lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) to mask its slight bitterness.

I would venture that most of you are intimately acquainted with the blooms of this memorable vine and have partaken of her nectar. All you sucklers will be happy to know that the familiar honeysuckle of your childhood is the very same potent medicinal we’re discussing here.

Many species of honeysuckle have been used medicinally throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. However, their traditional use and the part employed (bark, leaves, flowers, etc.) varies among species; the biochemistry of the genus is also variable. For example, some honeysuckles have poisonous berries, and some have leaves and bark that can cause vomiting and diarrhea.

Subsequently, we can’t make broad speculations about the medicinal qualities of the entire genus. We’re only talking about Japanese honeysuckle in this article—don’t extrapolate the information here to all honeysuckle species!

You can’t free it up with the honeysuckles, no matter how fun that sounds!

Japanese honeysuckle is native to eastern Asia. It has spread throughout much of the world and can now be found in South America, North America, Oceania, and Europe. In the United States, it is especially prolific in the Southeast, but can be found in almost every state, including Hawaii. Do not plant Japanese honeysuckle as it’s seriously invasive. Harvesting it for medicine is one way to slow its spread!

Japanese honeysuckle is a perennial woody vine that twines around its host, reaching 30 feet (9 m) in length. It can be found in thickets, pastures, and young, open forests and along fencerows, roadsides, and the forest’s edge. It is not a shrub, unlike many other honeysuckle species.

The leaves are elliptical to oblong and leathery when mature (they feel thickish); they are opposite. The leaves grow to 1.2–3 inches (3-7.5 cm) long and have ciliate margins (tiny hairs, like cilia, growing from the edge of the leaf). The vine has peeling, brown bark.

Here are some resources to help you properly identify Japanese honeysuckle:

• Description of Japanese Honeysuckle via The Nature Conservancy
• The Ohio State Guide to Identifying Japanese Honeysuckle

Prickly ash may be less familiar to you than the other herbs featured in this article, yet it’s one of our finest lymphatic herbs, immune stimulants, and circulatory stimulants.

Prickly ash’s name is derived from its leaf arrangement bearing a loose resemblance to the unrelated ash tree (Fraxinus spp.) and its formidable thorns, found along its branches and trunk. The tree’s fearsome armament inspired its alternate name, Hercules’ club. (Note: the common name Hercules’ club is also used for the unrelated Aralia spinosa.)

When I was in college one of my botany professors pulled a prank on me in front of my classmates. He invited us to try some of the tree’s fruits, and being an adventurous fledgling herbalist, I gamely chewed on a handful.

Immediately, my mouth became tingly and numb. I began drooling, bent over in an attractive spit-hunch to release the flood of saliva upon the ground. That experience was an unforgettable introduction into the profound physiological effect of alkamides, immune-stimulating and saliva-inducing compounds that are also shared by echinacea and spilanthes. This distinct mouth-numbing quality prompted yet another common name—  toothache tree.

Prickly ash’s yellow bark played prominently into the materia medica of Native Americans and subsequently the European settlers, due to its wide medicinal applications, including powerful antimicrobial qualities. The bark is colored yellow by a potent antimicrobial alkaloid, berberine, which is also found in goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis), barberry (Berberis, multiple species) and Oregon grape root (Mahonia, multiple species).

The tea and tincture of the bark are used in a similar fashion. Be warned that the tea is tingly and strong tasting. Many herbalists put a small amount of prickly ash in their herbal combinations as an adjuvant—an herb that directs, or orchestrates, the actions of the other herbs in a formula. Think: botanical rabble-rouser.

Prickly ash bark is taken in small amounts tonically to move the lymphatic system, innervate the immune system and stimulate circulation. In larger amounts, it is used to treat varied acute digestive issues, and is especially helpful in treating transient, foodborne gastric infections.

Toothache tree can be used to numb the gums in dental infections, and also offers antibacterial assistance. The bark can be used topically—chew on twigs or brush with the powder daily to improve gum health in periodontal disease. Toothache tree’s oral benefits stem from increased circulation and tightening loose gums, as well as its antimicrobial qualities.

Various species in the Zanthoxylum genus produce spicy fruits called Szechuan pepper, a pungent spice used in Asian cuisine, notably Chinese five-spice powder.  Many other species are used medicinally in India, China, Korea and Japan. Both Z. americanum and Z. clava-herculis are considered interchangeable medicinally.

Herbalist David Hoffman writes that: “Used daily, garlic aids and supports the body in ways that no other herb can match.”² Among its many gifts, garlic is one of our finest remedies for supporting immune health—it’s an essential staple in my kitchen as a potent immune stimulant and antimicrobial herb (it both kills pathogens and boosts immunity).

It can be highly effective in preventing infections such as the common cold and flu, as well as combating pathogens if an illness takes hold. Clinical studies support the ancient folk wisdom that garlic does indeed activate the immune system.

Pungent and warming, garlic helps to break up mucus in the body; it’s specifically beneficial for respiratory congestion. Raw garlic is the most effective preparation for avoiding and treating acute infections. Crush or chop a clove and allow it to “wilt” by leaving it alone on the cutting board for 10-15 minutes. Then add to honey, oil*, soup, vinegar, or tea.

Garlic is metabolized via the bloodstream, so applying garlic oil to the bottoms of the feet is an effective way to get its medicine flowing through the body (an especially great application for kiddos!).

Garlic doubles as an immune tonic, which means that it can be taken regularly to bolster the immune system over time. One clove per day, minced and added to food raw, is optimal.

My favorite garlicky preparation is fire cider—a sweet and spicy tonic made with apple cider vinegar. I recommend trying our rich red recipe for Hibiscus Pomegranate Fire Cider. I like spooning it over salads, and always take a tablespoon or two when I feel a sore throat or runny nose coming on.