Elecampane

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Inula Helenium, Elecampane, Horse Heal, Elf Dock, Inula, Tu Mu Xiang, Velvet Dock, Alantrot

It is distributed in the wild in the Caucasus, Central Asia and forest-steppe zones of the European part and Western Siberia. It grows on the edges of deciduous and pine forests, in meadows, clearings, river banks, lakes and in places of groundwater outlet. It can be cultivated in vegetable gardens. Propagated by seeds and segments of rhizomes.

This is a perennial herbaceous plant from the family of compound flowers with a thick rhizome and numerous fleshy roots extending from it. The stem is straight and reaches a height of 2.5 m.

The leaves are alternate, the lower ones with petioles, large, elliptical, up to 50 cm long and up to 25 cm wide, the upper stems are all-encompassing, lanceolate and smaller.

The flowers are golden yellow, in large baskets, located on thick peduncles at the ends of shoots in the form of a brush or a shield. The fruit is a four – sided brown achene 4-5 mm long. Blooms in July – September. The fruits ripen in August – October.

Medicinal raw materials are roots and rhizomes. When harvesting, they are dug out, and shaken off from the ground. The aboveground part and thin roots are cut off, washed in cold water, cut into pieces 10-20 cm long and into several parts along.

Blackened, dead and pest-damaged roots are discarded. Raw materials are dried for 2-3 days outdoors and dried in a warm, well-ventilated room or in a dryer at a temperature no higher than 40 ° C, laying out a layer of no more than 5 cm.

Stored in bags, wooden or glass containers for 3 years. Roots and rhizomes contain inulin, saponins, resins, gum, mucus, pigment, acetic and benzoic acids, alkaloids, vitamin E and essential oil.

Preparations of high-grade elecampane have an anthelmintic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, choleretic, expectorant and weak diuretic effect, slow down intestinal peristalsis and its secretory activity and at the same time increase the excretion of bile into the duodenum, which in combination with an antiseptic effect has a positive effect in the treatment of digestive organs.

It is used internally for diseases of the upper respiratory tract bronchitis with thick viscous sputum, cough, whooping cough, gastritis, liver and gallbladder diseases, ascariasis, hemorrhoids, irregular menstruation, rheumatism and diabetes, palpitations, headache, epilepsy, externally with eczema, itching of the skin and as a means to prevent premature birth.

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