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See also: common in many parts of .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 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 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, bitter 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 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 See also: elecampane preserved with See also: sugar, or made into a syrup or conserve," are recommended by See also: John
See also: Parkinson in his Theatrum Botanicum as " very effectual to warm a 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
.
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