102 FLOWERS OF LAKES, RIVERS, ETC. 



(a cow hoof), Hoofs, Horse-hove, refer to the same resemblance be- 

 tween the leaf outline and an ungulate hoof. 



On Easter Day in Bavaria the peasants made garlands of it and 

 threw them into the fire. It has been considered a demulcent and 

 pectoral, the leaves being mucilaginous. The plant has long been 

 used for coughs. In Chaucer's day it was used in all stomachic com- 

 plaints, for broken bones and the drye cohw (cough). The leaves are 

 held to be expectorant. The leaves have been used since the days of 

 Dioscorides to smoke through a reed to remove the mucus in the chest 

 for catarrh, asthma, phthisis, but it is little used to-day. The cotton of 

 the leaves wrapped in rag clipped in saltpetre has been employed as 

 tinder. For coughs also a tea or syrup was made. The root dried 

 and burnt has been used to keep away gnats. 



When the florets have done blooming, and the achenes with pappus 

 enclosed in the involucre are moist, the heads hang down, as at night, 

 but in the day and when it is dry they become light, and the scape is 

 again erect and the pappus expanded as in the Dandelion. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



163. Tussilago Farfara, L. Soboliferous, leaves large, cordate, 

 angular, with dark teeth, cottony beneath, leaves appearing after 

 the flowerheads, which are on scapes with scales, disk florets tubular, 

 ray florets ligulate, drooping before and after flowering. 



Butterbur (Petasites officinalis, Moench) 



Unlike its near neighbour Coltsfoot, Butterbur is not found in early 

 deposits. It is found in the North Temperate Zone to-day in Europe, 

 North Africa, N. and W. Asia. It is found in every part also of 

 Great Britain except the Isle of Wight, Glamorgan, West Sutherland, 

 as far north as the Shetlands; but it is local, and ascends to 1000 ft. 

 in Northumberland; and in Ireland it is also native. 



Butterbur is a paludal species, which grows in very similar places to 

 Coltsfoot. It, however, frequents the near neighbourhood of water 

 more consistently than the latter, and is found on the borders of rivers, 

 streams, and lakes, forming dense brakes with its huge rhubarb-like 

 leaves. 



Like Coltsfoot the Butterbur is soboliferous, with creeping under- 

 ground stems. The stems are woolly scapes. The leaves 1 are flat, 

 large, kidney -shaped or heart-shaped, toothed along the margin, 



1 Perfectly adapted to a habitat where moisture is abundant, water copiously supplied, and the shade 

 considerable. 



