Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A low perennial Eurasian herb (Tussilago farfara) in the composite family, naturalized in parts of North America and having dandelionlike flower heads and large, hoof-shaped basal leaves.
  • noun The dried leaves or flower heads of this plant, long used in herbal medicine to treat coughs.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The popular name of the Tussilago Farfara, natural order Compositæ, a plant of Europe and Asia, now naturalized in the United States, the leaves of which were once much employed in medicine.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) A perennial herb (Tussilago Farfara), whose leaves and rootstock are sometimes employed in medicine.
  • noun (Bot.) a European plant (Petasites vulgaris).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An herbaceous plant in the family Compositae, species Tussilago farfara, that grows in Europe and the Middle East.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun perennial herb with large rounded leaves resembling a colt's foot and yellow flowers appearing before the leaves do; native to Europe but now nearly cosmopolitan; used medicinally especially formerly
  • noun tufted evergreen perennial herb having spikes of tiny white flowers and glossy green round to heart-shaped leaves that become coppery to maroon or purplish in fall

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From the shape of its leaves.]

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Examples

  • However, orchard grass (called coltsfoot in English farming books) will grow down 4 or more feet while leaving a massive amount of decaying organic matter in the subsoil after the sod is tilled in.

    Gardening Without Irrigation: or without much, anyway Steve Solomon

  • The bright yellow coltsfoot bloom that looks like a dandelion is underway, and is all the more striking as it flowers before its leaves appear, which may be how it got its other name "son-before-father."

    Plantwatch: Welcome warmth brings spring blossom 2011

  • In the white noon among the rubble, let the snake warm itself on leaves of coltsfoot and in the silence let him coil in lustrous circles around useless gold.

    Powdered Sugar on Bare Skin 2009

  • Anonymous posted at 7:45 PM coltsfoot hugs from PA connie

    Flower e 2009

  • Have you seen the frolicking coltsfoot flowers -- yellow as a baby's bib -- dotting the gray woods?

    Heard by a Bird Sparrow 2007

  • To this I must add some broken clay pipes, with which we made believe to imitate our elders, smoking a foul mixture of coltsfoot leaves and brown paper.

    Prester John 2005

  • Infusions of coltsfoot, chervil, borage, chamomile, plantain, and elder flowers are also good for the eyes.

    THE NATURAL REMEDY BIBLE JOHN LUST 2003

  • TREATMENT: Coughs can be treated with thyme tea and syrup, or with teas and/or syrups of coltsfoot,* mullein, loquat leaves, elecampane root and flowers, and wild cherry bark.

    THE NATURAL REMEDY BIBLE JOHN LUST 2003

  • Linden, lobelia, coltsfoot, red clover, licorice, horehound, and wild cherry bark help to quiet a spasmodic cough but do not use these herbs to treat a productive cough that helps to clear the system.

    THE NATURAL REMEDY BIBLE JOHN LUST 2003

  • Because of this it may be a good idea to avoid using herbs such as conifrey, borage, senecio, coltsfoot, boneset, and petasites during pregnancy and for infants and young children.

    THE NATURAL REMEDY BIBLE JOHN LUST 2003

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