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(updated November 28, 2022)
Elecampane
Inula helenium L.
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)
▲seedlings
▲ mature plant, before flowering*
▲ closer view of leaves*
Inula helenium
L., Elecampane:
(Bayer Code:
INUHE; US Code INHE)
·
Eurasian native, rhizome-producing, creeping perennial that grows 2-8
feet tall with upright, ridged, green to reddish-green or purple stems covered
with short hairs, with most branching in the upper half of the plant as
flowering commences
·
Lower stem leaves are large, alternate, lanceolate, 1-2 feet long and
1/3 to ½ as wide, with shallowly toothed or smooth margins, a prominent white
midvein and short petioles; leaves are bright green, rough-textured on the upper
surface and soft-hairy on the undersides; basal leaves may be withered by time
of flowering; upper stem leaves are smaller, have no petioles, and sometimes
leaf bases clasp around stem
·
Head inflorescences are 2-4 inches across and usually single at the tips
of stems; individual heads have 50-100 yellow to yellow-orange thin ray florets
(“petals”) and several hundred yellow center disk florets
·
Bracts below the inflorescence are in several overlapping rows, green,
triangular to egg-shaped or wide-lanceolate, with pointed tips; bracts are have
soft hairs on their outer surfaces; bract tips curve out away from base of head
·
Flowering
season is mid-summer to early autumn
·
Found in pastures, fallow fields, open woods, right-of-ways, disturbed
sites; prefers full sun, but tolerant of partial shade; is sometime cultivated
for medicinal herbal purposes
·
Is capable of becoming invasive in some areas—more so further north in
midwest