Inula britannica chinensis
| Inula britannica | |
| Light: |   |
| Moisture: |  |
| Hardiness: | 7 |
| Soil pH: | 5.6-8.4 |
| Height: | 2' |
| Native to: | |
| Edible Rating: |  |
| Medicinal Rating: |  |
| Tea: | Yes |
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Inula britannica chinensis (common name: xuan fu hua)
Propagation: Seed - sow spring or autumn in a cold frame. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out in the summer.
If you have sufficient seed, it is worthwhile trying a sowing in situ in the spring or the autumn.
Division in spring or autumn[1].
Cultivation: Succeeds in a sunny position in any moderately fertile well-drained soil[2]. Grows well in heavy clay soils.
Plants are hardy to at least -15°c[3].
This sub-species is the form that is most used medicinally, it is cultivated as a medicinal plant in China[4].
Range: E. Asia - China and Japan.
Habitat: Wet places in lowlands, especially by rivers, all over Japan[5].
Edibility: Leaves - cooked[6]. An emergency food, it is only used when better foods are not available[7].
Medicinal: Xuan Fu Hua is used in Chinese herbalism as a mildly warming expectorant remedy and it is especially suitable where phlegm has accumulated in the chest[8]. It has been used as an adulterant of arnica (Arnica montana)[9]. The flowers are more commonly used, but the leaves are also used, generally for less serious conditions[8].
The leaf is discutient and vulnerary[10].
The flowers are alterative, antibacterial, carminative, cholagogue, deobstruent, depurative, diuretic, expectorant, laxative, nervine, stomachic, tonic and vulnerary[11][12][4][10][13]. They are used internally in the treatment of bronchial complaints with profuse phlegm, nausea and vomiting, hiccups and flatulence[12][3]. The flowers have an antibacterial action, but this can be destroyed by proteins in the body[12]. The plant is harvested when in flower and can be dried for later use[8].
The root is discutient, resolvent and vulnerary[10].
The plant has been mentioned as a possible treatment for cancer of the oesophagus[10].
Soil: Can grow in light, medium, and heavy soils.
Flower Type: Hermaphrodite
Links
References
- ↑ Sanders, Thomas. Popular Hardy Perennials. Collingridge, 1926.
- ↑ Huxley, Anthony. The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. MacMillan Press, 1992.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Bown, Deni. Royal Horticultural Society Encyclopaedia of Herbs and Their Uses. Dorling Kindersley, 1995.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Stuart, George. Chinese Materia Medica. Taipei Southern Materials Centre.
- ↑ Ohwi, Jisaburo. Flora of Japan. Smithsonian Institution, 1965.
- ↑ Read, Bernard. Famine Foods Listed in the Chiu Huang Pen Ts'ao. Taipei Southern Materials Centre, 1977.
- ↑ Kunkel, Günther. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books, 1984.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Chevallier, Andrew. The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants. Dorling Kindersley, 1996.
- ↑ Grieve, Margaret. A Modern Herbal. Penguin, 1984.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Duke, James and Edward Ayensu. Medicinal Plants of China. Reference Publications, 1985.
- ↑ Revolutionary Health Committee of Hunan Province. A Barefoot Doctors Manual. Running Press.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Yeung, Him-Che. Handbook of Chinese Herbs and Formulas. Institute of Chinese Medicine, 1985.
- ↑ Medicinal Plants in the Republic of Korea. World Health Organisation, 1998.