I always think of the flowers first when I think of elecampane (Inula helenium). They can’t help but put a smile on your face. They are quite similar to sunflowers only a shorter plant and a smaller flower. One of the common names for elecampane is wild sunflower. The ray flowers are narrow and long. This can give the flowers a bit of a scraggly appearance. The leaves are alternate and clasp the stem quite closely. The leaves are rough – like a kitten’s tongue scraping across your skin. There is elecampane growing near my house but it is not in a spot conducive to harvesting – behind a fence accompanied by cows. I have only a loose appreciation for private property – what if that beautiful field is just lying there? I am not doing anything of ill intent and I always travel with a garbage bag to pick up and dispose of garbage.
Elecampane grows freely near my favourite provincial park and this year I was able to get myself organized to harvest some. I spent the day hiking in the park and then stopped on the way home to dig. Digging roots is a fall activity. The trick is to wait as long as possible while still having enough plant material to correctly identify the plant. Like a game of chicken with the frost. Usually I worry about being too cold, layers are needed. This year because of our unusually warm Sept weather it was 40 degrees with the humidex and the sweat was rolling down my back as I hefted the shovel. I had thought I would be thrilled at the chance to visit the park an extra time but to be honest it felt wrong. Floating in a Canadian lake with the trees ablaze all around me. Not normal.
Elecampane fights lung grunges. It helps a stuck cough move to resolution. Elecampane is what we call a stimulating expectorant. Its success is in moving mucus and phlegm up and out of the lungs. The root is the part usually used in today’s herbalism and it contains a lot of volatile oils. These volatile oils stimulate the mucociliary escalator. This escalator controls the cilia that line the bronchi and is one of the main counters the lungs have against infection. Expectorants fall into one of three categories. Relaxing expectorants – primarily antispasmodics that relax muscles and calm a cough. Secretolytic expectorants – help to loosen and liquefy mucus and secretions. Stimulating expectorants activate the cough reflex so you can cough mucus up and out of the lungs. As an herbalist I always want to include all three kinds of expectorants in a formula. Depending on the nature of the cough the person is experiencing you balance the levels of the three different kinds of expectorants accordingly. A person with a loose open cough needs more stimulating expectorant than secretolytic. Giving a person with a dry hacking cough a blend with a lot of stimulating expectorant will only serve to irritate their lungs and worsen their cough.
I have a special place in my heart for herbs that are what I call 2 for 1 herbs. These are those herbs that provide symptom relief while simultaneously also addressing the underlying condition. Elecampane is actually a triple threat. Aside from the action as an expectorant elecampane is also an immune stimulant. It marshals the forces of the immune system to fight infection. Add on top of this the fact that elecampane is antibacterial and antiviral and it is easy to see why it is one of the first herbs I reach for when confronted by a lower respiratory tract condition. I am often frustrated by views of herbs that are one dimensional. Herbs do not have slots that fit into tabs. They have preponderances, but they often have more than one preponderance. Elecampane is also a fantastic herb for digestion. It is bitter and an appetite stimulant. Useful for gas, bloating, poor appetite, indigestion, and helps to reduce inflammation in the digestive tract.
The root I harvested this year I am trying out three ways. I have some infusing in honey – to use in tea when a person has a cough. I am also making an elecampane elixir in brandy and an elecampane bitters (recipe courtesy of Rosalee de la Foret). I did a quick taste test yesterday and I think they could all sit for a bit longer.
I find making medicine satisfying. Even with plants I’ve worked with before I invariably learn something. The whole time I was scrubbing the roots I could smell them. I could feel their action on my lungs. Another lesson in the difference between fresh herb and dried. When winter does its worst this year (and here in Ottawa meterologists are predicting a tough winter) this elecampane will be a bit of sunshine in a bottle. I have a client struggling with lung issues and the elecampane elixir might be just the tonic for her.