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Coltsfoot

Tussilago farfara

Please keep in mind that it is illegal to uproot a plant without the landowner's consent and care should be taken at all times not to damage wild plants. Wild plants should never be picked for pleasure and some plants are protected by law.
For more information please download the BSBI Code of Conduct PDF document.

Plant Data

Flowering Months:

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

Order:

Asterales

Family:

Asteraceae (Daisy)

Also in this family:

Annual Sunflower, Autumn Hawkbit, Beaked Hawksbeard, Black Knapweed, Blanketflower, Blue Globe-thistle, Bristly Oxtongue, Butterbur, Canadian Fleabane, Canadian Goldenrod, Carline Thistle, Chalk Knapweed, Common Blue Sow-thistle, Common Cat's-ear, Common Daisy, Common Dandelion, Common Fleabane, Common Goldenrod, Common Groundsel, Common Michaelmas Daisy, Common Mugwort, Common Ragwort, Corn Marigold, Cornflower, Creeping Thistle, Dwarf Thistle, Feverfew, Fox and Cubs, Goat's Beard, Greater Burdock, Greater Knapweed, Grey-headed Hawkweed, Heath Groundsel, Hemp Agrimony, Hoary Ragwort, Lesser Burdock, Lesser Hawkbit, Marsh Cudweed, Marsh Ragwort, Marsh Thistle, Mexican Fleabane, Mouse-ear Hawkweed, Musk Thistle, Narrow-leaved Ragwort, New England Hawkweed, Nipplewort, Oxeye Daisy, Oxford Ragwort, Perennial Cornflower, Perennial Sow-thistle, Pineapple Mayweed, Ploughman's Spikenard, Pot Marigold, Prickly Lettuce, Prickly Sow-thistle, Red-seeded Dandelion, Rough Hawkbit, Scented Mayweed, Scentless Mayweed, Sea Mayweed, Seaside Daisy, Shaggy Soldier, Shrub Ragwort, Silver Ragwort, Smooth Hawksbeard, Smooth Sow-thistle, Sneezeweed, Sneezewort, Spear Thistle, Tansy, Trifid Bur-marigold, Tyneside Leopardplant, Wall Lettuce, Yarrow

Type:

Flower

Maximum Size:

15 centimetres tall

Habitats:

Ditches, farmland, grassland, riverbanks, roadsides, seaside, swamps, wasteland, wetland, woodland.

Flower:

Yellow, many petals

Solitary with bright yellow disc and ray florets, up to 1.5cm. The flowers are borne on long, scaly stems which rise straight from the ground. The undersides of the flower are covered in white woolly hairs. Flowers appear long before the leaves appear.

Fruit:

A conspicuous dandelion-like, white pappus.

Leaves:

The leaves are round, heart-shaped or polygonal. The flowers die back before the emergence of the first leaves.

Other Names:

Ass's Foot, British Tobacco, Bull's Foot, Claywort, Cleats, Colt-herb, Coughwort, Dove-duck, Farfara, Field Hove, Flower Velure, Foal's Foot, Foalswort, Ginger, Ginger Root, Gowan, Hoofs, Horse Foot, Horsehoof, Sowfoot, Tash Plant.

Frequency (UK):

Abundant

Similar Species:

Garden Rhubarb

Distribution Map

Reproduced by kind permission of the BSBI.

Click to open an Interactive Map