Elecampane

Inula helenium

Also: Elfwort, Horseheal, Scabwort

WarmingDryingTonifying

Clears thick, stuck mucus from deep in the lungs.

A towering perennial, often taller than a person, with huge downy leaves and shaggy yellow sunflowers; its thick root smells of violets and camphor. Elecampane warms and strengthens the lungs, brings up heavy, stubborn phlegm, and fights the infections that settle in for weeks.

Energetics: Warming, drying, toning
Taste: Pungent, bitter, faintly sweet
Family: Asteraceae (daisy family)
Parts used: Root

Medicinal uses 5

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Traditional useLab and mechanism studiesClinical studies

Wet cough & congestionTLC
Brings up thick, heavy phlegm settled deep in the chest, especially in a cough that lingers after a cold.
Colds & fluTLC
Its antimicrobial compounds help clear chest infections that won't resolve; lab studies show strong activity against staph, MRSA included.
Frequent colds & low immunityTLC
Strengthens a body worn down by repeated chest infections.
Indigestion & bloatingTLC
A warming bitter that sharpens appetite and digestion in people weakened by long illness.
Sore throatTLC
Traditional for tonsils and throat infections, especially in children.

Preparations

Simmered root, tincture, honey syrup, and chest blends.

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Cautions

People allergic to ragweed, daisies, or chamomile can react to it.
Large doses can cause nausea and loose stools.
Shortness of breath, chest pain, or a fever that lasts more than a few days needs a medical look.

Medication interactions

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Pregnancy & breastfeeding

PregnancyAvoid

Elecampane can bring on menstruation and its pregnancy research is thin, so it waits until after birth.

BreastfeedingUse with care

It has mild action on the uterus and can trigger daisy-family allergies; talk with your practitioner before taking it while nursing.

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Folklore

Helenium honors Helen of Troy, and one legend says the plant sprang where her tears fell. Pliny wrote that the empress Julia Augusta ate a little preserved elecampane root every day for her digestion. Londoners sucked on elecampane candy for coughs into the twentieth century. In 1804 the chemist Valentin Rose isolated a new starch from the root, and it was named inulin after the plant's genus.

How to grow

A hardy, long-lived perennial for full sun and rich, moist soil. Give it room; one plant can reach six to eight feet. Dig roots from plants two or three years old in autumn, then chop them while fresh, since they dry rock hard.

In the wild

Native to Europe and western Asia and naturalized along roadsides, old farmsteads, and damp field edges in eastern North America.

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