heleniumn.
/hɛˈliːnɪəm/ 1. An early name for elecampane, the European herb Inula helenium, of the family Compositæ.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular medicinal plants or parts > [noun] > elecampane
horsehealc1000
spearwortc1000
greatworta1300
scabwortc1450
elecampane1541
horse-elder1597
helenium1608
inula1822
dahlin1826
1608 E. Topsell Hist. Serpents 5 Helen..planted the same there..called..after her owne Name Helenium, which the skilfull Herborists at this day affirme to grow in Pharus.
1777 R. Weston Universal Botanist IV. 380 Many of the Varieties of the Helenium of Vaillant, are arranged under Aster and Inula.
1931 M. Grieve Mod. Herbal I. 279/1 Elecampane was known to the ancient writers on..natural history... Inula, the Latin classical name for the plant, is considered to be a corruption of the Greek word Helenion, which in its Latinized form Helenium, is also now applied to the same species.
2. [Adopted by Linnæus in Hortus Cliffortianus (1738) 418.] A plant of a large genus of North American annual or perennial herbs so called, belonging to the family Compositæ; a sneezeweed.
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the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Compositae (composite plants) > [noun] > sneezeweed or helenium
helenium1789
American sneezewort1845
sneezeweed1856
1789 W. Aiton Hortus Kewensis III. 227 (heading) Smooth Helenium. Nat[ive] of North America.
1900 J. M. Abbott in W. D. Drury Bk. Gardening viii. 272 Heleniums are valuable composite plants for back positions in mixed borders.
1961 Amateur Gardening 16 Sept. 7/2 Despite the epithet ‘autumnale’, many of the heleniums are summer-flowering plants.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1976; most recently modified version published online September 2018).
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