110 ENGLISH BOTANY. 
from the same point, rather slender, 3 inches to 1 foot high, with 
scale-like empty bracts. Anthodes terminal, erect while the flowers 
are expanded, then drooping, and ultimately erect. Pericline ^ to 
| inch long ; phyllaries sub-scarious, rather obtuse, slightly hairy 
except at the tips. Florets of the disk few, those of the ray nume- 
roua ; all bright-yellow. Style of the disk-flowers scarcely cleft, 
that of the female florets with 2 rather long oblong-cylindrical 
obtuse branches. Achenes pale-brown, angular. Pappus pure white, 
of rough hairs, nearly three times as long as the achene. Plant 
Light-green ; the leaves white when young, and remaining more or 
less so beneath ; scapes whitish, with the scale-like bracts generally 
reddish, at least at the tips. 
Common Coltsfoot. 
French, Tussilage Pas d'Ane. German, Gemeiner Hvflattich. 
This plant has an ancient reputation in medicine. Pliny records its being used 
For smoking, and recommends it as a remedy for obstinate colds and coughs, and recom- 
mends both the roots and leaves. The leaves are the basis of the British herb tobacco. 
Dr. Cullen recommends their use in scrofulous cases. He says : " The expressed juice of 
the fresh leaves, taken to some ounces every day, has in several instances occasioned the 
healing up of scrofulous sores ; and even a strong decoction of the dried leaves, employed 
;<s Fuller proposes, seems to have answered the same purpose." The seeds of this plant 
are said to be used by the Highlanders for stuffing mattresses ; and the downy substance 
on the under surface of the leaves, wrapped in rag dipped in a solution of saltpetre and 
(hied in the sun, makes the best tinder. In Johnson's " Useful Plants of Great Britain," 
we are told that the underground stems of the Tussilago preserve their vitality for a 
long period when buried deeply ; so that in places where the plant has not been observed 
before, it will often spring up in profusion after the ground has been disturbed. In 
such .situations, where the earth is of a loose loamy texture, the plant often does good 
Bervice by binding the earth with its widely-spread stems; but in pastures or gardens 
it is a troublesome weed, very difficult to extirpate when once established. The name 
Coltsfoot is given to the plant from the shape of the leaf, which is fancifully supposed to 
resemble the foot of a colt. The specific name Farfara is derived from Farfarus, an 
ancient name of the white poplar, the leaves of which present some resemblance in form 
and colour to those of this herb. 
GENVS XXVI. —V ETASITES. Tournef. 
Flowers sub-dioecious or polygamo-dioecious ; some individuals 
wiih anthodes heterogamous, generally discoid, having in the 
centre numerous perfect florets (or rather sab-male, as they seldom 
produce seed), and a lew female florets in a single row round the 
circumference ; others with the anthodes having 1 to 5 sub-male 
florets in the centre surrounded by numerous rows of female florets. 
Pericline composed of unequal imbricated phyllaries arranged in 
2 or 3 n.us. Clinanth flat, pitted. Perfect florets with the corolla 
tubuhr-campanulate, regular ; female florets with the corolla fili- 
