Elecampane
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 1/2 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
* Photos taken at Beale Gardens at Michigan State University
(Updated November 28, 2022)