Inula is a large genus of about 90 species of flowering plant

Flowering plant

The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...

s in the family Asteraceae

Asteraceae

The Asteraceae or Compositae , is an exceedingly large and widespread family of vascular plants. The group has more than 22,750 currently accepted species, spread across 1620 genera and 12 subfamilies...

, native to Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

 and Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

. The genus is thought by some to be paraphyletic, based on the study of the different phenol

Natural phenol

Natural phenols, bioavailable phenols, plant phenolics, low molecular weight phenols or phenoloids are a class of natural products. They are small molecules containing one or more phenolic group. These molecules are smaller in size than polyphenols, containing less than 12 phenolic groups...

ic compounds the various species have.

They are mostly perennial herbs that vary greatly in size, from small species a few centimeters tall to enormous perennials over 3 meters tall.

Some common characteristics include pappus

Pappus (flower structure)

The pappus is the modified calyx, the part of an individual disk, ray or ligule floret surrounding the base of the corolla, in flower heads of the plant family Asteraceae. The pappus may be composed of bristles , awns, scales, or may be absent. In some species, the pappus is too small to see...

 with bristles, flat capitulum

Capitulum

The term Capitulum can refer to several things:*In botany, a type of flower head where the bracts are located under the basis, such as a daisy's*Also in botany, the top of a Sphagnum moss plant with compact clusters of young branches....

, and lack of chaff

Chaff

Chaff is the dry, scaly protective casings of the seeds of cereal grain, or similar fine, dry, scaly plant material such as scaly parts of flowers, or finely chopped straw...

.

Several species are popular flowers for the garden, with cultivation going back to antiquity. The name Inula was already used by the Romans and derived from Helen of Troy fame. The smaller species are used in rock gardens and the more common larger ones, which tend to have very coarse foliage, in borders.

Selected species

• Inula acaulis Schott & Kotschy ex Tchihat. – Stemless Inula
• Inula acervata S.Moore
• Inula acinacifolia Gand.
• Inula acuminata DC.
• Inula afghanica
• Inula anatolica Boiss.
• Inula auriculata Boiss. & Balansa
• Inula bifrons (L.) L.
• Inula britannica
  Inula britannica
  Inula britannica, the British yellowhead, is a plant species in the genus Inula. The plant produces the flavonol axillarin....
  
  L. – British Yellowhead
• Inula candida (L.) Cass.
• Inula cappa (Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don) DC.
• Inula caspica Blume
• Inula clarkei ( Hook.f.) R.R.Stewart
• Inula conyzae (Griess.) Meikle – Plougman's-spikenard
• Inula crithmoides L. – Golden samphire
  Golden samphire
  The Golden samphire is a perennial coastal species, which may be found growing on salt marsh or sea cliffs across Eurasia....
  
   (syn. Limbarda crithmoides (L.) Dum.)
• Inula cuspidata
• Inula ensifolia L.
• Inula eupatorioides DC.
• Inula falconeri Hook.f.
• Inula forrestii
• Inula germanica L.
• Inula grandis Schrenk ex Fisch. & C. A. Mey.
• Inula helenioides DC.
• Inula helenium L. – Elecampane
  Elecampane
  Elecampane, also called Horse-heal or Marchalan , is a perennial composite plant common in many parts of Great Britain, and ranges throughout central and Southern Europe, and in Asia as far eastwards as the Himalayas....
  
  
• Inula helianthus-aquatica
• Inula helvetica Weber
• Inula hirta
  Inula hirta
  Inula hirta is a perennial herbaceous plant belonging to the genus Inula of the Asteraceae family. The specific Latin name hirta refers to the type of hairiness of the plant.-Description:...
  
  L.
• Inula hookeri C. B. Clarke
• Inula hupehensis
• Inula japonica
• Inula koelzii R.Dawar & Qaiser
• Inula lineariifolia Turcz.
• Inula magnifica
• Inula montana L.
• Inula multicaulis Boiss.
• Inula nervosa
• Inula obtusifolia A.Kern.
• Inula oculus-christi L.
• Inula orientalis Lam.
• Inula pterocaula
• Inula racemosa
  Inula racemosa
  Inula racemosa is an ornamental plant of the Asteraceae family.Inula racemosa is a member of the Asteraceae family. It grows in the temperate and alpine western Himalayas, and it is common in Kashmir...
  
  Hook.f.
• Inula rhizocephala Schrenk ex Fisch. & C. A. Mey.
• Inula rhizocephaloides
• Inula royleana DC. (synonym of Inula racemosa Hook.f.)
• Inula rubricaulis
• Inula salicina
  Inula salicina
  Inula salicina is a plant species in the genus Inula....
  
  L. – Irish Fleabane, Willowleaf Yellowhead
• Inula salsoloides
• Inula sericophylla
• Inula spiraeifolia
  Inula spiraeifolia
  Inula spiraeifolia is a perennial herbaceous plant belonging to the genus Inula of the Asteraceae family.-Description:Inula spiraeifolia reaches an height of . The middle leaves are oblong-elliptic and they measure of length and of width. The base of the leaves is not embracing the stem. The...
  
  L.
• Inula stewartii Abid & Qaiser
• Inula subfloccosa Rech.f.
• Inula thapsoides Spreng.
• Inula verbascifolia (Willd.) Hausskn.
• Inula wissmanniana

Inula species are used as food plants by the larva

Larva

A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...

e of some Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...

 species including the following case-bearers of the genus Coleophora

Coleophora

Coleophora is a very large genus of moths of the family Coleophoridae. It contains some 1,350 described species. The genus is represented on all continents, but the majority are found in the Nearctic and Palaearctic regions...

; C. conyzae (recorded on I. conyzae), C. follicularis, C. inulae and C. troglodytella.

Selection of species not anymore belonging to genus Inula

• Inula dysenterica L. => Pulicaria dysenterica
  Pulicaria dysenterica
  Pulicaria dysenterica is a species of Fleabane in the daisy family. It is native to Europe and western Asia where it grows in a variety of habitats ranging from semi-arid Mediterranean woodlands to wetter situations. P. dysenterica is perennial and can form dense clusters of plants, spreading by...
  
  (L.) Bernh.
• Inula graminifolia Michx. => Pityopsis graminifolia (Michx.) Nutt.
• Inula graveolens (L.) Desf. => Dittrichia graveolens (L.) Greuter – Stinkwort, Stinkweed
• Inula indica L. => Pentanema indicum (L.) Y.Ling
• Inula mariana L. => Chrysopsis mariana
  Chrysopsis mariana
  Chrysopsis mariana, known as the Maryland golden-aster, is a plant in the Chrysopsis genus. The Maryland golden-aster ranges from south Ohio to Pennsylvania and Long Island, New York, and the Soldiers Delight Natural Environmental Area in Maryland. Compared to other asters, the Maryland...
  
  (L.) Elliott
• Inula primulifolia Lam. => Conyza primulifolia (Lam.) Cuatrec. & Lourteig
• Inula subaxillaris Lam. => Heterotheca subaxillaris (Lam.) Britton & Rusby
• Inula viscosa => Dittrichia viscosa
  Dittrichia viscosa
  Dittrichia viscosa, also known as False Yellowhead, Sticky Fleabane, Woody Fleabane and Yellow Fleabane, is a flowering plant in the daisy family....
  
  – False yellowhead, Sticky Fleabane, Woody Fleabane