﻿Cant. (3rd ed) p. 340. — Hook. FI. Scot. p. 242. — Grev. FI. FTdin. p. 177. — Curt. 

 Ilrit. Entomol. v. viii. t. 367. — FI. Devon, pp. 137 & 159 — Johnston’s HI. of 

 Berw. v. i. p. 183. — Walk. FI. of Oxf. p 239. — Bab. FI. Bath. p. 25. — Mack. 

 Catal. of PI. of lrel. p. 73. — Tussilago vulgaris , Gray’s IS at. Arr. v. ii. p. 472. 

 — Tussilago, Ray’s Nyn. p. 173. — Johnson’s Gerarde, p. 811. 



Localities. — In moist places ; on a clay or marly soil ; and on lime-stone 

 rubbish. Common. 



Perennial. — Flowers in March and April. 



Root very long, mucilaginous, bitterish, whitish, creeping hori- 

 zontally under the ground, sending oft" many fibres, and propagat- 

 ing itself far and wide, thus becoming a most troublesome weed to 

 the farmer and gardener. Leaves (these do not appear till after 

 the flowers) upright, on long furrowed, reddish brown leaf-stalks, 

 heart-shaped, slightly lobed, sharply and copiously toothed, very 

 smooth, and of a slightly glaucous green colour above ; pure white, 

 and densely cottony, with prominent veins beneath, the cotton easily 

 rubbing off; when young they are rolled back, and in that state are 

 thickly enveloped in cottony down. Stalks ( scapes J numerous, 

 radical, appearing before the leaves, solitary or in clusters, from 3 

 to 5 inches high, lengthening after flowering, round, woolly, and 

 clothed with numerous, scattered, smooth, reddish brown scales or 

 bracleas, which are crowded under the flower, like an exterior calyx. 

 Flowers bright yellow, terminating the scapes, upright while in 

 blossom, after flowering hanging down, but when the down of the 

 seeds expands, becoming upright again. Scales of the Calyx strap- 

 shaped, reddish brown. Florets of the Ray very narrow, in 2 or 3 

 rows, as long as the calyx, expanding. Florets of the Disk tubular, 

 swelling upwards, 5-cleft. Seed-down sessile, longer than the calyx. 



Colt' s-foot is the first plant that vegetates in marl or lime-stone rubble. Mr. 

 Holdicii observes, that every part of the root will produce a plant, and though 

 buried to the depth of a yard or more, it will vegetate, send up a stem to the 

 surface, and spread with astonishing rapidity. It must never be suffered to pro- 

 duce flowers, or fully expand its leaves. Draining, paring, and burning, fol- 

 lowed by a naked summer fallow, with hoeing in due season, will completely 

 eradicate this nuisance. Mr. Pit says, that it may be destroyed by cutting off 

 the crown of the root in March. The downy substance on the undersurface of 

 the leaves, wrapped in a rag, dipped in a solution of saltpetre, and dried in the 

 sun, makes the best tinder. The leaves are the basis of the British herb tobacco. 

 The smoaking of this herb, as a remedy for obstinate coughs, was recommended 

 by Pliny ; and Linnaeus says, that it is still used in Sweden for the same pur- 

 pose. The leaves are somewhat austere, bitterish, and mucilaginous to the 

 taste. They were formerly much used in coughs and consumptive complaints ; 

 and perhaps not without reason, for Dr. Cullen found them to do considerable 

 service in scrophulous cases ; he gave a decoction of the dried leaves, and found 

 it succeed where sea-water failed. Fuller relates the case of a girl, with 

 twelve scrophulous sores, who was cured by drinking, daily, as much as she 

 could, for above four months, of a decoction of the leaves made so strong as to 

 be sweetish and glutinous. A decoction with wormwood is said to have done 

 wonders in calculous complaints. It is sometimes used as tea, sweetened with 

 honey, for colds and asthmas, and has frequently given relief, if not effected a 

 cure. According to the observations of Linnaus, goats and sheep eat it; cows 

 are fond of it ; horses and swine refuse it. 



Two very pretty parasitical Fungi, Uredo Tussildginis, Grev. FI. 

 Edin. p. 437 ; and JEcidium Tussildginis , ib. p. 447 ; are common 

 on the under-surface of the leaves of Tussilago Fdrfara about Oxford. 



