COMPOUND FLOWERS 181 



that in the few places of Scotland in which he saw it, it always grew near 

 houses. It is quite likely to have escaped from cultivation, for as it looks 

 well both in gardens and shrubberies, it is often placed there, and propagates 

 itself very extensively by its spreading roots. It is an old inhabitant of the 

 English garden. Turner, one of our earliest writers on plants, observes of 

 it in 156S—" Boronicum, otherwise called Carnahadium, groweth not, that I 

 knowe of, in England ; and that I remember I never saw it growing but 

 once, and that was in Germanye." He adds, that the roots are well known 

 in the apothecaries' shop, and says, "The Arabian commendeth this herbe 

 very much agaynst diseases of the herte, and holdes that it is goode agaynst 

 poyson and venome." G-erai-de, who had the Leopard's-bane in his garden, 

 tells us that it grows wild in the mountains, and also that it is "brought 

 into, and acquainted with, our English gardens." 



2. Plantain-leaved Leopard's-bane (D. planfagineum). — Leaves 

 toothed, those from the root or naked stalks egg-shaped, or somewhat heai-t- 

 shaped ; stem-leaves sessile, clasping, the lowermost with a winged and 

 eared stalk ; perennial. This is also a rare species, found at one or two 

 places in Essex, in the Den of Dupplin, and a few other damp places in 

 England and Scotland. The stem is either simple or branched, two or three 

 feet high ; the yellow heads of flowers on long leafless stalks, usually solitary, 

 or if more, the side ones do not, as in the other species, overtop the terminal 

 ones. It flowers in June and July. 



41. Elecampane, etc. (Inula). 



1. Elecampane (/. heUnium). — Leaves clasping, unequally toothed, 

 wrinkled, downy beneath ; outer scales of the involucre egg-shaped, downy, 

 leafy, turning backwards ; ray twice as long as the disk ; fruit quadrangular, 

 smooth; root perennial. This very handsome but rare plant is found 

 occasionally in moist pastures in England and Ireland, but is not wild in 

 Scotland. It has a stout stem, from three to five feet high, with large leaves 

 and bright yellow flowers of the size of small sunflowers. The leaves are 

 bitter and aromatic, and the roots much more so. These contain a white, 

 starch-like powder, termed inulin, a volatile oil, a soft acrid resin, and a 

 bitter extract, and they furnish the celebrated Fin d^Aiihiie of the French, 

 so largely used in pectoral complaints. This same inulin has, of late years, 

 been found to exist in the tubers of several plants, as in those of the Jeru-. 

 salem artichoke, the common pellitory of the wall, and the angelica. The 

 root, when dried, becomes in the course of time stronger and sweeter, and 

 has much of the scent and flavour of orris-root. At first taste it is glutinous, 

 but somewhat strong and disagreeable, but it leaves an aromatic and bitter 

 pungent flavour on the tongue. There is no doubt that it is a good pectoral 

 medicine, and it is certainly a useful remedy for the diseases of sheep. The 

 Romans used the roots as an edible vegetable ; and that the monks prized 

 them highly, is evident from their old line, 



'■' Enula campana will restore healtli to the heai't ;" 



Enula campana being its name among the medical writers of those days. It 

 is little used in England, except that it is sometimes employed by druggists 



