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Lust For Spring Leads to Coltsfoot

© Gregg Pasterick

I was one of those kids whose anticipation of Christmas first manifested itself with the arrival of the new Sears Catalog each autumn. Briefly mulling over the brassiere and girdle ads for reasons I couldn't quite fathom, I would impatiently thumb through the kitchen wares and draperies and new clothes, to the toy section. There I stared with wanton lust at the glossy photos of all the new toys, imagining them under the Christmas tree.

Over time I outgrew Santa and the Sears catalog. I did not, however, outgrow impatiently thumbing through books and magazines, staring with wanton lust at glossy photos. These days that wanton lust is directed at field guides, particularly during late-winter, in anticipation of spring wildflowers. And this year, giddy with the prospect of so many new wildflowers in California, I am ogling a lot of photos. As you can imagine, I am seeing a lot of new "faces" and learning a lot of new names. Some of these new "faces" have familiar old names.

Coltsfoot, for example.

Thumbing through field guides of western species I've come across Coltsfoot (Petasites frigidus) and Western Coltsfoot (P. palmatus), both early bloomers. Back east Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) is a well-known and welcome early sign of spring. All are members of the Aster family (Asteraceae). Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) has yellow, dandelion-like flowers, while Coltsfoot (P. frigidus) and Western Coltsfoot (P. palmatus) have white to pinkish flowers. Gets confusing, doesn't it?

I don't know much about the western species. Both are early bloomers, first emerging from the soil as early as mid-February. Flowers blossom in clusters borne atop a single hefty stem. Western Coltsfoot grows in the Cascades and the western coastal mountains. Coltsfoot (P. frigidus) grows across northern North America, south through the Pacific states into Central California.

Coltsfoot (T. farfara) I have a history with. It is the only species in its genus, and its generic name, which alludes to its reputation as a cure for coughs, is from the Latin tussis. Its common and species names refer to its leaf, which some consider to be shaped like a colt's foot.

T. farfara is a perennial, introduced from Europe. It grows along roadsides and in waste places, and its branching root system effectively prevents soil erosion. Unlike its western cousins, each stalk bears only one flower, the yellow dandelion-looking thing, about an inch across, each with a multitude of thin ray flowers surrounding the disk flowers. The flower stalks have reddish scales, and grow from a horizontal rhizome. The flowers bloom before the basal leaves appear. The plant reaches a height of no more the 18".

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