COLTSFOOT 99 



prickles, tor wind dispersal of its achenes. It is also hirnished with 

 hooks, which aid in dispersino- the seeds by means of animals, the burs 

 catchini^ in the wool of sheep, &c. 



The [)lant is aqtiatic or semi-aquatic, and a peat-loving- plant 

 requiring a peaty soil, growing in the reed swamp. 



Two flies. Tcphritis elongalula, Cliromatoniyia albiccps, are found 

 on it. 



Bidciis, Linnaeus, is from the Latin bis, twice, dens, a tooth, in 

 allusion to the two or more teeth or awns crow'ning the fruit, and the 

 second Latin name refers to the 3-lobed leaf characters. 



Water Agrimony and Bur Marigold Double-tooth are the common 

 names in most general use. 



It has been used to dye linen and wool a yellow colour, yarn and 

 ria.\ being first steeped in alum water, dried, and steeped in a prepara- 

 tion of this plant, and then boiled in it. 



EssENTi.\L Specific Characters: — 



156. Bidciis tripaTtita, L. — Stem Ijranched, branches opposite, 

 leaves petiolate, trihd, tlowerheads small, yellow, suberect, solitary, 

 terminal. 



Coltsfoot (Tussilago Farfara, L.) 



This is an ancient plant, having been met with at Edinburgh in 

 beds of Neolithic age. It is found in the North Temperate and Arctic 

 Zones in Arctic Europe, N. Africa, N. and \V. Asia, as far east as the 

 Himalayas. In America it is an introduction. It is found in every 

 part of Great Britain also, as far north as the Shetland Islands, and it 

 a.scends to 2700 ft. in the Flighlands. It is native in Ireland and the 

 Channel Islands. 



Coltsfoot is a pelophilous plant wliicli grows on clay soils in damp 

 situations, on banks in clay pits, on railway banks, by the sides of 

 streams, and other ])laces where there is a stead\' flow ot water in the 

 spring. 



The plant is prostrate in habit. riie plant is soboliferous, with 

 many long underground shoots, ending in suckers. It has burrowing 

 stolons, by which it spreads extensively. The only aerial stem is the 

 I -flowered scape. The leaves arc Ijroad, round to heart-shaped, 

 angular, or lobed, downy or woolly-felted below, toothed. The stomata 

 on the under surface are no doubt protected by the woolly felt. The 

 upper surface is glossy or col)webby, with the \'eins promincntK" hollow, 

 and below they stand otit untler the fell. The l(-a\-cs do not a])])ear 

 until after the .scancs. 



