inula

Any of several plants of the genus Inula, such as elecampane.

In springtime the ruins are a blaze of contrapuntal colour: wild gladioli of magenta, bright yellow inulas and spiky acanthus thrust up among sarcophagi carpeted with tiny blue saxifrage and sprawled over by convolvulus with great pink trumpets.

The dried root of such a plant used as a stimulant.