Dictionary:
el·e·cam·pane (ĕl'ĭ-kăm-pān')  |
[Middle English elecampana : Old English elene (from Medieval Latin enula , from Latin inula , from Greek helenion , from Helenē, Helen; see Helen) + Medieval Latin campāna, of the field (from Latin campānea, feminine of campāneus , from campus, field).]
| English Folklore: elecampane |
The roots of this plant were widely used in folk medicine and particularly veterinary medicine—for curing hydrophobia in cows and skin diseases in horses and sheep. In Wiltshire, at least, the plant was called ‘Horseheal’ (Wiltshire, 1975: 18). For human use, the traditional ways of processing the plant often involved mixing with sugar, honey, or wine. In this form it eventually became available as a sweet, and the name lived on even after the plant ceased to be an ingredient:
So now its medical virtues are forgotten, and it is sold merely as a candy in confectioners’ shops, with no more of the plant in it than there is of barley in what is now sold as barley-sugar.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: elecampane |
| WordNet: elecampane |
The noun has one meaning:
Meaning #1:
tall coarse Eurasian herb having daisylike yellow flowers with narrow petals whose rhizomatous roots are used medicinally
Synonym: Inula helenium
| Wikipedia: Elecampane |
| Elecampane | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Asterids |
| Order: | Asterales |
| Family: | Asteraceae |
| Tribe: | Inuleae |
| Genus: | Inula |
| Species: | I. helenium |
| Binomial name | |
| Inula helenium L. |
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Elecampane, also called Horse-heal (Inula helenium) or Marchalan (in Welsh), is a perennial composite plant common in many parts of Great Britain, and ranges throughout central and Southern Europe, and in Asia as far eastwards as the Himalayas.
It is a rather rigid herb, the stem of which attains a height of from 3 to 5 feet; the leaves are large and toothed, the lower ones stalked, the rest embracing the stem; the flowers are yellow, 2 inches broad, and have many rays, each three-notched at the extremity. The root is thick, branching and mucilaginous, and has a warm, bitter taste and a camphoraceous odor.
In France and Switzerland it is used in the manufacture of absinthe.
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For medicinal purposes, the roots should be procured from plants not more than two or three years old. Besides inulin (C6H12O6[C6H10O5]n), a body isomeric with starch, the root contains helenin (C15H20O2), a stearoptene, which may be prepared in white acicular crystals, insoluble in water, but freely soluble in alcohol. When freed from the accompanying inula-camphor by repeated crystallization from alcohol, helenin melts at 110 °C.
Susan O'Shea, a research student at Cork Institute of Technology (CIT), Ireland, has shown that extracts from the herb kill methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) as well as a broad spectrum of other bacteria.[1]
The plant's specific name, helenium, derives from Helen of Troy; elecampane is said to have sprung up from where her tears fell. It was sacred to the ancient Celts, and once had the name "elfwort".[2]
The root was employed by the ancients[who?] both as a medicine and as a condiment, and in England it was formerly in great repute as an aromatic tonic and stimulant of the secretory organs. As a drug, however, the root is now seldom resorted to except in veterinary practice, though it is undoubtedly possessed of antiseptic properties.[citation needed]
John Gerard recommended elecampane for "the shortness of breath"; today herbalists prescribe it as an expectorant and for water retention; it also is claimed to have antiseptic properties. It has minor applications as a tonic and to bring on menstruation.[2]
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This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Copyrights:
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| English Folklore. A Dictionary of English Folklore. Copyright © 2000, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more |
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| WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Elecampane". Read more |
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