THE COLT'S-FOOT 43 



one that such names are frivolous, irreverent, 

 superstitious ; but while we in these latter days are 

 not supposed to need such incentives to faith, we 

 cannot but feel that the intention which influenced 

 such titles was an altogether worthy one. 



Amongst the earliest blossoms in our wild garden 

 will be found the golden thread-like flower-heads of 

 the colt's-foot. This is a plant that thrives best on 

 clayey or gravelly soil, and it may often be seen in 

 profusion in the early Spring starring the railway 

 banks. Like the butterbur, and some few other 

 plants, its flowering stems are developed before its 

 foliage. Where it has once taken hold it increases 

 freely, so that it will be well to plant it where this 

 spreading habit will be welcomed rather than re- 

 garded as an encroachment. In the Spring its 

 masses of yellow blossom rising from the bare 

 ground are very welcome, while scarcely less wel- 

 come are, later on, its quaintly angular leaves, that 

 contrast agreeably with the surrounding vegetation. 

 Their resemblance to the foot, or hoof, of a colt is 

 somewhat remote. 



The colt's-foot was one of the plants largely used 

 in rustic pharmacy. Its generic name, Tussilago, 

 is a testimony to the repute in which it has for 

 centuries I been held, being derived from tussis, a 



1 It was strongly commended by Hippocrates, who men- 

 tions two hundred and forty plants as being of remedial 

 value. He was born at Cos, B.C. 459. Theophrastus, Dios- 



