Elecampane

Inula helenium
Also known as elecampagne, elecampane inula, elfdock, horse-heal

$5.00

In stock

Description

Elecampane is a true beauty in the garden and a life saver in the apothecary. In the Asteraceae family, elecampane is related to asters, daisy and sunflowers and you’ll recognize the similar pattern of ray petals surrounding the numerous tiny flowers in the center, like other aster family relatives.

Indeed elecampane really looks like sunflower’s smaller flowered cousin once blooming. The bright yellow flowers also resemble jerusalem artichoke flowers, another beautiful cousin.

As a perennial, elecampane starts flowering in her second year and sends up relatively tall flower stalks with multiple flowers flowering their way up the stalk. A small patch of elecampane plants flowering at the same time is sure a sight for sore eyes. The flowers are like mini suns and sure do lighten up my day.

I started growing elecampane for her powerful medicine and continued growing more plants for beauty. In ideal conditions elecampane’s roots grow so large that the roots of one three year old plant will give you a significant amount of lung medicine.

Elecampane’s medicinal roots are strongly associated with lung health. In fact elecampane is a powerful antiviral medicine specific to lungs. I personally leaned heavily into elecampane when covid (and or any other virus) first starts to be felt in my lungs. In my own experience, elecampane usually quickly prevents viruses in my lungs from advancing and prevents them from becoming infected in my lungs.

In fact elecampane is also known to be antibacterial specific to lungs as well. Elecampane has been shown in studies to be effective against bronchitis, emphysema and tuberculosis.

As if that wasn’t enough elecampane roots are a powerful expectorant and sure enough within a few minutes after consuming elecampane roots, usually in the form of tincture, my cough becomes more productive and helps me clear mucous more easily. Elecampane has at times also helped ease my asthma.

Elecampane roots can be drank as tea, drank as syrup, sucked and eaten as candied or honeyed lozenges, or taken as tincture. Tincture of the fresh root is my preferred way to take elecampane because its so convenient and easy to dose. But I really enjoy taking honey infused chunks of elecampane as natural lozenges. I have enjoyed tea from time to time but its not my first go-to because the flavor is so strong.

Some people describe elecampane as tasting like moth balls. I’m not sure if I agree with that but the flavors are definitely musky and pungent and I wouldn’t want to make a meal out of them, but I’ve grown fond of the flavor in small medicinal doses. Her roots sure do impart a strong flavor and some will never acquire the taste, and that is another reason why tincture is one of the most popular ways to take the medicine. The strong flavor is a good indication that small amounts go far when used medicinally.

Despite the strong flavor, I was surprised how good elecampane tasted as an herbal beer. At the time I experimented with many herbs brewed as beer. In fact, in a taste test elecampane was our group’s favorite beer. So if you are into fermenting and like alcohol, keep in mind that elecampane beer or wine may be another desirable way to consume the medicine.

Due to the strong tasting roots elecampane is fairly gopher resistant. After a few bites all but the most daring of gophers will probably call it a day. Her soft fuzzy leaves are also very deer resistant in our experience and we enjoy growing elecampane both inside and outside our deer fence.

We are honored and excited to share seeds from this beautiful, medicinal plant with you!

Details

Lifecycle: Perennial
Lifespan: 20-25 years
Hardiness zones: 4-8 (USDA)
Habitats: Fields, pastures, hillsides, clearings in South East Europe
Plant size: 3 ft wide x 5 ft tall
Light: Full sun to part shade
Soil: All soil types, fertile soil preferred
Water: Moist, well draining soil, some drought tolerance
Seeds per packet: 50+ seeds

Seed Starting

Start seeds in the spring, tamp down in the soil and just barely cover the thin, long seed with soil. Our seeds have the pappus (fluff) removed so you don’t have to worry about them flying away! Keep the top layer of the soil consistently moist until the seeds sprout. Transplant to their final locations when seedlings are big enough to handle.

Elecampane can also be direct sowed in a well prepared bed.

Cultivation

Elecampane grows like a weed and requires minimal care. Keep weeded, especially in the first year as it gets established. After being established elecampane’s large leaves are robust and can handle themselves with all but the most aggressive companions. Elecampane can handle heavy clay soils but will grow larger, showier and make bigger roots with fertile soil.

If you want elecampane to naturalize in your garden (it does so readily) allow the flowers to set seed and the tufts will blow around on the wind. After seed is dispersed cut the flower stalks to the ground anytime in early winter through early spring to make room for next year’s growth.

Otherwise if you don’t want elecampane re-seeding, cut down the flower stalks after the flowers are done blooming but before the seed heads open and ripen.

Harvest

Harvest the roots anytime after frost in late fall through late winter. I prefer to wait until the plant is 3 years old for large roots, but even two year plants’ roots can be substantial in good conditions. Roots can be severed from the root crown and then the root crown can be replanted to continue growing in the following year.

Propagation

Elecampane is easily grown from seed. In fact one plant is all you need to flower and go to seed to potentially have volunteer elecampane plants coming up in your garden for years to come.

Elecampane’s root crown can also be divided to create more plants. This is conveniently done at the time of harvesting the roots.

Seed Saving

Seeds are harvested when the flowers have dried up and re-open exposing the fluffy pappus, but before they are too open and start blowing away. Thresh the dry seed heads by rubbing them on a 1/4″-ish mesh screen to release the seeds. Save seeds with pappus attached or continue rubbing them between your hands to separate seeds from pappus and then lightly blow or winnow the remaining fluff from the seeds.

Additional information

Weight0.007 lbs
Dimensions4.5 × 3.25 × .05 in

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