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ELECAMPANE (Med. Lat. Enula Campana)

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Originally appearing in Volume V09, Page 169 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ELECAMPANE (Med. See also:Lat. Enula Campana) , a perennial composite plant, the Inula Helenium of botanists, which is See also:common in many parts of .See also:Britain, and ranges throughout central and See also:southern See also:Europe, and in See also:Asia as far eastwards as the Himalayas. It is a rather rigid See also:herb, the See also:stem of which attains a height of from 3 to 5 ft.; the leaves are large and toothed, the See also:lower ones stalked, the See also:rest embracing the stem; the See also:flowers are yellow, 2 in. broad, and have many rays, each three-notched at the extremity. The See also:root is thick, branching and mucilaginous, and has a warm, See also:bitter See also:taste and a camphoraceous odour. For medicinal purposes it should be procured from See also:plants not more than two or three years old. Besides See also:inulin, C12H26O10, a See also:body isomeric with See also:starch, the root contains helenin, C6H8O, a stearoptene, which may be prepared in See also:white acicular crystals, insoluble in See also:water, but freely soluble in See also:alcohol. When freed from the accompanying inula-camphor by repeated See also:crystallization from alcohol, helenin melts at to° C. By the ancients the root was employed both as a See also:medicine and as a condiment, and in See also:England it was formerly in See also:great repute as an aromatic tonic and stimulant of the secretory See also:organs. " The fresh roots of elecampane preserved with See also:sugar, or made into a See also:syrup or conserve," are recommended by See also:John See also:Parkinson in his Theatrum Botanicum as " very effectual to warm a See also:cold and windy stomack, and the pricking and stitches therein or in the sides caused by the Spleene, and to helpe the cough, shortnesse of breath, and wheesing in the Lungs." As a See also:drug, however, the root is now seldom resorted to except in veterinary practice, though it is undoubtedly possessed of antiseptic properties. In See also:France and See also:Switzerland it is used in the manufacture of See also:absinthe.

End of Article: ELECAMPANE (Med. Lat. Enula Campana)

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