Elecampane

Plant Characteristics

Cultivation

Scientific Names

Asteraceae >

Inula >

helenium >

L. >

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Elecampane, also called Horse-heal (Inula helenium) or Marchalan (in Welsh), is a perennial composite plant common in many parts of Great Britain, and ranges throughout central and Southern Europe, and in Asia as far eastwards as the Himalayas.

It is a rather rigid herb, the stem of which attains a height of from 3 to 5 feet; the leaves are large and toothed, the lower ones stalked, the rest embracing the stem; the flowers are yellow, 2 inches broad, and have many rays, each three-notched at the extremity. The root is thick, branching and mucilaginous, and has a warm, bitter taste and a camphoraceous odor.

Read about Elecampane in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Inula helenium, Linn. Elecampane. Tall, thick-stemmed: lvs. unequally dentate-serrate; root- lvs. elliptic-oblong, narrowed into a petiole; st.-lvs. half-clasping, cordate-oblong: outer involucral parts leafy, ovate. Wet, sandy and mountainous regions. Eu., N. Asia. Naturalized in Amer. — The roots are thick and carrot-like. For medicinal purposes, 2-year- old roots should be dug in Aug. lf older, they are likely to be stringy and woody. The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

• w:Elecampane. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
• Elecampane QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)