COLTS-YOOT. —Timila^o Farfara, 



Class Syngenesia. Oi-der Superflua. Nat. Ord. CoMrosiT.E. 

 Compound Flowers. 



Those who are in the habit of observing 

 the plants of our moist and clayey soils, will 

 recognise this as very abundant there. Next 

 to the tassel-like blossoms of the hazel and the 

 silver ray of the daisy, this is the earliest of the 

 spring Howers, often blooming in March, before 

 the Violet has yet put forth a bud. As the 

 yelloAv blossom appears long before the foliage, 

 the plant is less ornamental than it would be, 

 were it accompanied by the large and hand- 

 some leaves which spread, all the summer- 

 time, over many a bank by our wayside walk. 

 The leaves have long been used medicinally as 

 an infusion for cough, and the practice of 

 smoking them like tobacco is still very general 

 in viUages. This custom is of very ancient 

 date, for Phny directs that the foliage sliould 

 be burned, and that the smoke arising from it 

 should be drawn into the mouth through a 

 reed and swallowed. The scientific name of 

 the genus is derived from tussis, a cough. 



The under surface of the leaf of the Colt's- 

 foot is covered with a thick cottony down. 



