Elecampane
Inula helenium
Helen of Troy wept into the earth and this grew from her tears. The name preserves it.
Overview
Elecampane is a plant of striking physical presence — it can reach two metres, with enormous, soft, grey-green leaves, tall branching stems, and flowers like ragged yellow suns from July to September. It has been cultivated in physic gardens since antiquity, moved across trade routes from its central Asian origins into Europe and then into the Americas, and used with particular consistency for one cluster of conditions: the deep, persistent coughs of autumn and winter, the lung complaints of wet climates, the respiratory exhaustion of people who worked in damp cold. The root, dried and ground, has a complex, bitter-sweet, slightly camphorated smell that was used as a breath-sweetener, a confection, and a strewing herb long before the chemistry was understood. The chemistry, as it turns out, is interesting: inulin, the prebiotic fibre first isolated from elecampane root, is named for the plant.
Botanical Notes
A robust, rhizomatous perennial reaching 1–2 metres with very large basal leaves (up to 80cm) that are soft, grey-felted beneath, and progressively smaller stem leaves with clasping bases. Flower heads are 6–8cm across with numerous narrow, bright yellow ray florets surrounding a yellow disc, from July to September. Native to central Asia and south-eastern Europe; naturalised in Britain, Ireland, and North America in damp, disturbed, nitrogen-rich soil near old habitation — a consistent indicator of historical cultivation. The root contains inulin (up to 44%), essential oil (azulene, alantolactone), and bitter sesquiterpene lactones.
Lore & History
The species name helenium commemorates Helen of Troy — the legend holds that she was gathering elecampane when Paris carried her away, or that the plant grew from her tears, depending on the version. Pliny recommended the root as a digestive. In Anglo-Saxon England it was called elfwort, and in the folk tradition of the British Isles it was used in preparation for encountering the fairy world — the root was eaten or carried as protection against fairy glamour and enchantment. The Celts made elecampane wine and used the root in elf-shot remedies. In the nineteenth century, elecampane candy — the root candied with sugar — was sold as a breath freshener and cough sweet in England and France. Absinthe sometimes included it as a secondary botanical.
Warnings
Safe at normal herbal doses. Those with known Asteraceae allergies should patch test before extended use — alantolactone can cause contact dermatitis in sensitised individuals. Avoid in pregnancy as a precaution — the plant has mild uterine-stimulating properties at high doses. The root in very large quantities may cause nausea and vomiting due to the bitter sesquiterpene lactones.