Tussilago farfara L.
coltsfoot
Asteraceae (Aster family)

Introduction to Vascular Plants

Photograph

© Diane Williamson     (Photo ID #16238)


Map

E-Flora BC Static Map

Distribution of Tussilago farfara
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Species Information

General:
Perennial herb from a creeping rhizome; stems erect, numerous, simple, more or less white woolly-hairy, 5-50 cm tall.
Leaves:
Basal leaves arising direct from the rhizome, developing well after the flowering stems, long-stalked, heart-shaped or triangular with a deep, narrow indentation at the base, callous-toothed and shallowly lobed, 5-30 cm long, glabrous above, white-woolly beneath; stem leaves reduced to numerous alternate, parallel-nerved bracts, 0.6-1.6 cm long, entire, sparsely long-hairy and glandular, the glands purple-tipped, not much reduced upwards.
Flowers:
Heads with ray and disk flowers, solitary; involucres 8-15 mm tall; involucral bracts linear-lanceolate to lanceolate or oblanceolate, nearly glabrous above, sparsely to moderately long-hairy below and also glandular (the glands purple-tipped), margins translucent with purplish cross walls, inconspicuously hairy at the tips; ray flowers yellow, narrow, 8-12 mm long.
Fruits:
Achenes linear, 5- to 10-ribbed, glabrous; pappus of numerous white hairlike bristles.

SourceThe Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Illustration

If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.

Habitat and Range

Wet ditches and disturbed sites in the lowland zone; rare in SW BC, known from S Vancouver Island and the lower Fraser River valley; introduced from Eurasia.

SourceThe Illustrated Flora of British Columbia