98 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



the apex. Achenes irregularly 4i-sided, striated. Pappus of a 

 single row of hairs. 



In moist meadows, pastures, bushy places, and hedge-banks. 

 Kare, and probably not native in many of its localities. It occurs 

 in most of the Southern counties ; and Mr. Baker considers it 

 truly wild in Yorkshire, and it may possibly be so in Durham and 

 the Lake district. In Scotland, however, it is certainly introduced. 



England, [Scotland,] Ireland. Perennial. Late Summer 



and Autumn. 



Pootstock enlarged, fleshy, many-headed. Stem stout, erect, 

 deeply furrowed, 2 to 5 feet high. Radical and lower stem-leaves 

 very large, not unlike those of a Mullein ; those about the middle 

 of the stem broader in proportion than the others, and amplexicaul. 

 Anthodes solitary, or 2 or 3 in a corymb, on short peduncles. 

 Pericline hemispherical, 1 to 2 inches across, the outer leaf-like 

 phyllaries much developed in the larger anthodes. Plorets all 

 bright-yellow. Achenes glabrous, olive-brown, with 4 very strong 

 ribs, which give it a prismatic shape ; the spaces between the ribs 

 finely striate. Pappus longer than the achene, dirty-white usually 

 tinged with reddish-brown ; hairs very shortly ciliated. Plant pale- 

 green, the under sicfe of the leaves and phyllaries softly pubescent. 



Elecampane. 



French, Aunee Officinale. German, Achter Alaut. 



This plant has a reputation attached to it even independently of its mythical 

 name. It was highly valued by the older physicians for its medicinal virtues, and is 

 still employed to some extent as an aromatic tonic. A sweetmeat, very popular with 

 schoolboys, is made from the root candied with sugar. In former days it was esteemed 

 as a cordial by the monkish herbalists, who celebrated its virtues in the line " Enula 

 campana reddit prfecordia sana." The name Elecampane is a corruption of the first of 

 these words, Gerarde tells us " it is good for shortnesse of breath, and an old cough, 

 and for such as cannot breathe unless they hold their neckes upright." Pliny affirms 

 " that the same being chewed fasting doth fasten the teeth." Gerarde adds : " The 

 root of Elecampane is with good successe mixed with counterpoisons ; it is a remedy 

 against the biting of serpents, it resisteth poison ; it is good for them that are bursten 

 and troubled with cramps and convulsions." Of the origin of the name of the plant 

 our imaginative friend Gerarde says : " It tooke the name Helenium of Helena, wife 

 to Menelaus, who had her hands full of it when Paris stole her away into Phrygia," 

 We are told that the leaves were eaten by the Eomans as a potherb : the practice may 

 have extended to Troy, and account for the fact which Gerarde relates of the fair 

 Helen. The root contains a large quantity of a principle called inulin, resembling 

 starch in properties ; but this is combined with a resinous bitter substance and a 

 volatile oil, to which the medical qualities of the plant are due. A decoction of the 

 root is said by Withering to cure sheep affected with the scab. 



