250 The Coltsfoot. 



The Coltsfoot, 



This is a genus of the class Syngenesia, order Polygamia Su- 

 perflua. Its characters are : — calyx scales equal, as long as the 

 disk, somewhat membraneous ; down simple ; receptacle naked. 

 The name is taken from a word meaning a cough, as it has had 

 a considerable reputation in the relief of complaints of the chest. 

 We have many species of this genus common in the United 

 States, the most well known of which is perhaps the Tussilago 

 Frigida — Wild Coltsfoot, which is recognized by its triangu- 

 lar, heart-shaped leaves, unequally toothed, and downy on their 

 under surface ; it is most found in mountain woods, producing, 

 in May, a corymb of white flowers, with a bluish, approaching to 

 pale purple disk. Our species, represented in the plate, Tussi- 

 lago Fragrans— Sweet Scented Tussilage, is an ornamen- 

 tal frame perennial, bearing pale red, sometimes white flowers, 

 from January to March. The leaves are of a roundish heart- 

 shape, equally toothed, and downy beneath. Phillips remarks : 



He trudged along, unknowing what he sought, 

 And whistled as he went for want of thought. 



That even classical ground produces minds of this description, 

 is instanced in the long neglected plant of which we are about 

 to speak. Although a native of Italy, it remained in obscurity 

 until the nineteenth century, when M. Villan, of Grenoble, was 

 attracted by its agreeable fragrance at the foot of Mount Pilat, 

 from whence he brought it to perfume the winter gardens of the 

 continent, and it cast its first odor on British shores in the year 

 180G, and was soon sent to the United States, in which it has 

 proved a favorite wherever introduced. As its perfumed flowers 

 expand so early in the season, it cannot fail of being welcomed 

 by every lover of sweet smells. In England it has become so 

 far naturalized as to discharge its fragrance as freely over then- 

 walks in the winter months as the Egyptian Reseda disperses its 

 odors over those of the summer. It "is hailed by many as the 

 Heliotrope of the open garden, and as a vegetable winter friend 

 of no small importance in the parterre. The modest flowers of 

 this plant were too insignificant to have attracted the notice of 



