BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
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GENUS IV. 
THE ELECAMPANE. (Inula, Lin.) 
Lin. Syst. SYNGENESIA SUPERFLUA. 
Generic Character. —Involucrum imbricated; outer scales terminated by a leafy appendage. Flowers radiant, with the ray yellow. Receptacle 
naked. Pappus hairy, simple. ( Lindley .) 
Description, &c.— The common Elecampane (I. Helenium ) is a very singular-looking plant, having the 
florets of both the disk and the ray yellow, but the latter being very few in number and of an extraordinary 
length. The whole plant has a strong aromatic flavour, and abounds in a mucilage somewhat resembling 
starch. These qualities rendered it formerly a great favourite in domestic medicine, and it is still frequently 
used in country places as a stomachic and a carminative. It is also sold in confectioners’ shops candied, and it 
forms a very agreeable kind of sweetmeat. It is found wild in various parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland ; 
and, in fact, wherever the ground is at once moist enough, and rich enough to afford nourishment for its large 
fleshy root. The plant is a perennial, and the flowers appear in July and August. The words Inula and Helenium 
are said to be both derived from the Greek, and to signify that the plant sprang from the tears of Helen. This 
aenus is in the same Linnaean class and order as the last. 
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GENUS V. 
THE GOLDEN SAMPHIRE. (Limbarda, Cassini.) 
Lin. Syst. SYNGENESIA SUPERFLUA. 
Generic Character. —Involucrum imbricated ; scales without any appendage. Flowers radiant, with the ray yellow. Receptacle naked. 
Pappus hairy, simple. (Lindley .) 
Description, &c. —There is only one British species of this singular-looking plant, the flowering branches 
of which are thickly covered with smooth narrow leaves, laid over each other like scales. The flowers are of a 
golden yellow, with a large disk, and a very scanty ray. The lower leaves are thick and fleshy, and taste like 
those of Samphire. The plant is only found in salt marshes on the southern and western coasts of England. It 
is a perennial, with a creeping root, and a half-shrubby stem ; and it produces its flowers in August. Limbarda 
is slightly altered from Limbarde , the name under which the plant is known in France. This genus is in the 
same Linmean class and order as Conyza and Inula. 
GENUS VI. 
THE FLEABANE. (Pulicaria, Cassini.) 
Lin. Syst. SYNGENESIA SUPERFLUA. 
Generic Character. — Involucrum imbricated. Flowers radiant, with the ray yellow. Receptacle naked. Pappus double; the outer 
membranous. (Lindley.) 
Description, &c. —There are two species of this genus, one of which (P. dysenterica) is common in ditches 
and watery places in every part of England. The stem and the under side of the leaves of this plant are so 
densely clothed with down as to appear quite white. The flowers are of a rich golden-yellow, deepening into 
