Elecampane
Inula helenium
Found in damp pastures, roadsides, other disturbed areas. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
—
Not native
Not native to Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 82%
- Height
- 2–6 feet
- Spread
- 2–3 feet
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Usually moist
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At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Leaves
- Deciduous
- Bloom
- May to September
JFMAMJJASOND
Recorded in 7 Virginia counties.
Habitats
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground.
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there. All habitats
Ecological relationships
Who uses this plant?
2CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including VA
Genus host records with ranges including VA · Inula
- Gnorimoschema gallaeasterellaGoldenrod Gall Moth
- Olethreutes lacunanomLacuna Moth
—BeesSoutheastern regional records
1Specialist beesPollen specialists
—BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claimGrowing and identification
Plant details
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Hardiness
- Zones 3a–7b
- Soil pH
- Acidic to neutral
- Flower color
- Yellow
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “May to September” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Yellow” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Hardiness · “Zones 3a–7b” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Height · “2–6 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Minnesota Wildflowers differs)
- Leaves · “Deciduous” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Light · “Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- primary_flower_color · “yellow” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil · “Moist” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil pH · “Acidic to neutral” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Spread · “2–3 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
Also known as
Elecampane Inula
Conservation status
| Virginia rank | SNA |
|---|---|
| Global rank | GNR |
| VA status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Sources
- Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora
- USDA PLANTS
- FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- FloraQuest: Northern Tier (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications