Load of rubbish!
It has not been very nice out today so I am going to do a flower instead.
This is going to be one of our early bloomers but I am not sure how early. I only discovered it on March 9th but by then it was in full flower.
We went searching for winter signs of it today but our eyes weren’t big enough.
Tussilago farfara, The Coltsfoot
A member of the Daisy family, Coltsfoot is a composite flower head made up of central disc florets (male) and thin, radial, ray florets (female).
It is native to the UK, Europe, North Africa and Western and North Asia it is an introduced species in North America.
In many parts of the world it is the first spring flower to appear and in Finland the first Coltsfoot is routinely reported in the media, signalling the end of a long winter and the coming of spring. Something that everybody looks forward to.
Early flowering is achieved because the flower heads form in the previous autumn, lie dormant through the winter and are ready to open at the first sign of spring.
Coltsfoot flowers appear long before the leaves. The leaves only appear after the flowers have gone to seed.
The stem is covered in long scaly bracts.
The central disc florets are quite large and have five petals and pollen producing anthers. They have no female part and they do not produce a seed.
The ray florets are female, they each have a two lobed stigma to collect pollen which leads down to the ovary, where the seed will be produced.
Flowers of the Daisy family don’t have sepals. Instead many of them have a small ring of hairs, above the ovary, that will develop into the pappus or parachute that will carry the seed on the wind. Not all of them, neither Daisies nor Sunflowers develop parachutes but Coltsfoot does.
Very often the newly formed seed head will carry the remains of the flowers amongst it.
When the flowers have gone then the leaves appear, almost like a second plant and this will be one that does not appear to ever flower.
This is the shape that gives the plant the name Coltsfoot.
The Latin name Tussilago comes from the words Tussil (cough) and ago (act on). It was once believed that smoking the leaves would cure a cough and the plant is occasionally referred to as English Tobacco or various other smoking related names. (It should be remembered that Tobacco itself was once hailed as a remedy for respiratory ailments)
The flowers have also been used in herbal medicine and are still available to buy as ready prepared syrups and so on, however we now know that the plant contains compounds that cause severe liver problems over time and are very dangerous to children. There is a variety developed in Germany called Tussilago farfara ‘Wien’ that has had the dangerous compounds removed, it was developed after several severe cases of liver damage and the death of one child whose mother took Coltsfoot during pregnancy. It should be taken with caution.
Wildlife fare better. There is a cup of nectar at the base of each ray floret and the discs are full of pollen. It is a favourite of Honey bees, one study has reported that 51% of all visits to the flower were by Apis mellifera (European Honey Bee). It flowers in early spring and these early nectar sources are very important to all of our insects.
Although insect pollination and seed production is vital to the plants survival most of the seeds produced will fail. Carried by the wind they must settle somewhere they will have a constantly damp environment. Such seeds allow the plant to colonise new areas but most new plants arise from vegetative reproduction (A new plant growing from the roots of an existing one) which is why you will usually find Coltsfoot flowering in quite dense groups.
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Tussilago
Species: Tussilago farfara
I have not been at my best today, I have got a bug.
Interesting how the seed are formed around the perimeter of the disc. With sunflowers it is the opposite. Cute dog. Oh, and happy new year.
LikeLike
Thank you Jason 🙂 Yes there is a lot of variation within the Asteraceae.
LikeLike
Coltsfoot grow in fields around here as well. It’s a pretty little flower. Feel better; get rid of that bug! And have a Happy New Year.
LikeLike
Thank you Sarasin 🙂 It is only a little bug.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your walks always yield so much. 🙂
LikeLike
Thank you Don 🙂
LikeLike
Coltsfoot is one of the earliest bloomers here, too. Not much else before that, except perhaps skunk cabbage.
Hope you feel better soon.
I look forward to seeing a full year of your tramps in the woods with Fizz!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Maggie 🙂 We will be keeping a close eye on our Coltsfoot this spring but I think that the Snowdrops will be first.
LikeLiked by 1 person
How beautiful – thanks for showing me these very clever flowers – and the bug 🙂
LikeLike
Thank you Maureen 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Before I met you and Fizz I just looked at flowers and accepted them. It now takes a lot longer to walk around the garden than before. It’s all your fault.
LikeLike
Thank you John 🙂 I wish that they could teach this stuff at school so that we could start our lives off knowing what was around us and what was important. We only find out when we get old.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Nice bug! (Can you tell I’m a former zoologist rather than a botanist?) Is it Stenocorus meridianus? We have longhorn beetles in Oz, but not this one.
LikeLike
Thanks Joy 🙂 Nice spot, it is indeed Stenocorus meridianus. This is what passes for a big beetle here in the UK.
We will have animals back on the blog soon, there are just not a lot of them about at the moment 🙂
LikeLike
Wow, so there marketing gurus back when Walter Raleigh was still alive! Your post reminds me of the famous Bob Newhart sketch. of course drying out leaves, rolling them up, and putting them to your lips will NEVER catch on.
LikeLike
Thank you Stephen 🙂 Some time ago, in a different life, I used to collect old books. Just cheap stuff that you can probably still find in antique book stores. I liked the sense of history and the little handwritten inscriptions in those given as gifts. The medical dictionaries were the best 🙂
LikeLike
We don’t have much Coltsfoot round here – I only know of a couple of large patches of it. It is unmistakable, even from a distance as it is a different shade of yellow from dandelions – more ochre yellow I think.
My Grandmother suffered from an over-active thyroid and developed a goitre. It was operated on in the 1930’s and the doctor recommended my grandmother start smoking to help in her recovery. She always disliked smoking and eventually gave up in the 1960’s. She lived to be 93 years old.
LikeLike
Thanks Clare 🙂 I only know of one place locally where I can find Coltsfoot and strangely that is also the only place where I can find the Guelder Rose. I expect that there will be many more places to find in 2015 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I thought the flower was a dandelion at first from first look. I guess that says how much I know about wildflowers, lol.
BTW, Happy New Year to you and Fizz.
LikeLike
Thank you Kathy 🙂 Yes, too often we walk past things and miss what is under our feet. I have done it lots 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your blog always reminds me of my botanics-courses at the university 🙂 Although I was no big fan of them back then now I just have nice memories left 🙂 Happy new year, cute little Fizz!
LikeLike
Thank you Becky 🙂 Education would be a lot easier for most of us if there were more pictures and fewer words and all teachers knew the verb “Lookit” as in “Lookit, it’s beautiful,” Happy New Year and a belated Happy Birthday 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Exactly! Thank you 🙂
LikeLike
Lovely! Although I don’t think I’ve ever seen coltsfoot here in Massachusetts, I love seeing the beautiful yellow at this dark time of year. Happy 2015!
LikeLike
Thank you Karen 🙂 I am loving remembering and anticipating the wildflowers too.
LikeLike
Plenty of hot home-made chicken soup with garlic and fresh ginger for you Colin and you’ll be over it in no time.
Interesting flower. Reminds me a bit of dandelions with those fluffy seed balls. Hope you have a very Happy New Year and pass on my regards to Fizz.
LikeLike
Thank you Vicki 🙂 I think that I might have caught this bug from Fizz. It is only a little bug.
LikeLike
Another great profile, Colin. Even though it is not native here, I love coltsfoot for the same reason as the Finns, it is a harbinger of spring. That cheery yellow after a long, snowy winter is so heartening.
LikeLike
Thank you Eliza 🙂
LikeLike
Happy New Year!
LikeLike
Thank you Terry 🙂
LikeLike
I hope your bug isn’t as big as the one in the photo! Another great post. Hope you feel better. Happy New Year to you and Fizz
LikeLike
Thank you Gigi 🙂
LikeLike
Happy New Year to you and Fizz. I’m looking forward to your 2015 posts 🙂
LikeLike
Thank you RR 🙂 Me too, who knows what is out there or what adventure is coming next?
LikeLike
Happy New Year Colin and Fizz! 🙂
LikeLike
Many thanks HJ 🙂
LikeLike
Load of rubbish that you caught a buggish 😦 Fine post in spite of feeling sluggish. Thanks to mellow yellow Coltsfoot and frisky Fizz, the show did go on, as they say in showbiz 😉
LikeLike
Thank you Stephanie 🙂 Thank you for all of the lyrical comment too.
LikeLike
So much detail and information. Love these flowers under the microscope!
LikeLike
Thank you Justine 🙂
LikeLike
Happy New Year to you and Fizz, and keep those informative posts coming at us. Will have to look out for coltsfoot in Southern Spain. We have our bible on Mediterranean flowers and then I can’t identify one and have to look in the British book. The dear common ones aren’t in the purely Mediterranean one!
LikeLike
Thank you Georgina 🙂 I really don’t know if it gets that far south, I associate Coltsfoot with cold weather but I would be interested to know if it does.
LikeLike
Will look out for it but don’t think I’ve seen it. Our climate is a bit cooler in the hills but still quite warm during the day in winter.
LikeLike
A lovely splash of yellow and some great macro! Have a happy and healthy 2015 you and the indomitable Fizz!
LikeLike
Thank you Jude 🙂
LikeLike
Glorious photos, and lovely spring sunshine too! Happy New Year to you and Fizz!
LikeLike
Thank you Jo 🙂 We are looking forward to next years Hazel Tree.
LikeLike
Another very informative and interesting walk with yourself and Fizz. I enjoyed all the information on the flower, and I really liked the bug. Just curious, do bugs like that in any way help out with the propagation of flowers and plants, or can they truly be said to be, “Just passing through”.
LikeLike