Coltsfoot

Coltsfoot, Tussilago farfara one of the earliest spring flowers should be in bloom from February but it was half way through March when I saw my first of the year. Although we might expect an early bloom in these days of climate change there is a theory that warmer autumns may delay flowering. Much more research is needed to establish a definite link.

Here they are on the thinly grassed edges of Wye Valley woodland rides. The daisy-like flowers (no surprise it's a member of the Asteraceae family) appear before the leaves, giving rise to one of its folk names: Son before father. There are some very descriptive local names: Sweep's Brushes and Yellow Stars in Somerset.

I saw tight purple-tinged buds in leaf litter before I saw these blooms on a sunnier edge. The ray florets are many and thin. The stigmas are very slender. The disc florets form the centre. Early bees and beetles visit it for nectar and pollen. There are photo-bombing beetles here. I should have looked closer!

The flowering stem carries a solitary bloom. This stem has felted white hairs and many purplish, scale-like bracts.

There are no leaves at this stage. 

The leaves give rise to the English name Coltsfoot as they resemble a colt's or foal's foot. I rather like the name Clatterclogs used in Cumbria! Well after the flowers are gone the leaves will grow large and tall on different stalks. The felted white hairs initially on both sides of the leaves give rise to the name farfara. They bear some similarity to the shape and texture of leaves of the White Poplar tree, whose undersides are white and hairy. Its ancient name was Farfarus. The dry felt on Coltsfoot leaves has been used as tinder.

Tussilago comes from the Latin 'tussis', a cough and 'ago' roughly speaking to drive away. Greek and Roman physicians in the first century CE extolled its virtues as a soothing substance, expectorant and tonic. Linnaeus said the Swedes smoked it to soothe the lungs. Known as Baccy Plant in Somerset the leaves are often used as a basis for herbal tobacco and as such it can still be bought as a tobacco or a tea leaf. Coltsfoot Rock is similarly available. As it counted as a cough sweet it was not on ration during the war and could be bought from chemists by children and adults wanting a sweet treat. Tushy-lucky, as this plant is known in Scotland, is a corruption of tussilago.

 

I am going to finish with a few lines of very free verse:

Coltsfoot wheels verge the woodland path,

grounded partners of Helios;

reaching up, 

reflecting his chariot's course, 

as he warms the land,

announcing the Spring.

                                              

I hope you enjoyed this short blog.

Acknowledgements

Mabey Flora Britannica

Harrap's Wild Flowers

Grigson The Englishman's Flora

Websites include

https://botanical.com/

https://wildflowerfinder.org.uk/

https://naturescalendar.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2020/coltsfoot-a-little-ray-of-sunshine-in-the-spring/

Wood Anemone

Wood Anemone, Anenome nemorosa has been such a welcome sight over this past week and a flower that grows over almost all of the British Isles seems a good start to the blogs of 2021.

In each of the blogs this year I am hoping to use some literature. I start with John Clare (1793-1864) who  enjoyed these blooms as much as we do and wrote in a poem entitled Wood Anemone of "weeping flowers in thousands pearled in dew" and their "clipt-frilled leaves" on slender stalks. A modern botanist might say the stem has a whorl of three leaf-like bracts. Which description do you prefer?

There were not thousands in bloom on the wooded banks of the Wye near Monmouth this week, more like dozens, but perhaps the thrill is greater for the first few of one of the earliest spring flowers! The name anemone comes from the Greek god of wind, Anemos, who scattered the flowers across the land to herald his coming in the spring. Another Greek myth has these blooms rising from Aphrodite's tears as they fell in the woodlands she wandered after the death of Adonis. However romantic these myths seem the plant is poisonous to humans. Incidentally, I was intrigued about nemorosa too- Latin for wooded or shady if you are interested!

This native plant from the Ranunculaceae family spreads very slowly, no more than six feet or so in a hundred years, through its creeping rhizomes. It is thus an indicator of ancient woodland. It can have a sharp musty smell on warm days which may have given rise to one of its folk names in Somerset: Smell Foxes. Other names refer to the shape of the flower: Granny's Nightcap in Somerset, Wiltshire and Warwickshire; and perhaps the less innocent Moll o' the Woods in Dorset and Warwickshire and Lady's Petticoat in Wiltshire. The solitary blooms are often flushed pink, especially on the outside as here.

I recently found out that what appear to be six or seven petals are in fact sepals. The flower has no petals. The pitcher-shaped stigmas just about visible here are surrounded by a ring of stamens. The plant is pollinated by hoverflies.

Lockdown means I will not be able to visit any new habitats for a while so blogs could be rather sporadic. I will only cover plants that I missed last year. There were a few! There is little point in repeating last year's material when it is still available. 

I hope you have enjoyed this short blog and perhaps been reminded of something you had forgotten.

Thank you for reading. 

Resources used

Flora Britannica Richard Mabey

The Englishman's Flora Geoffrey Grigson

Harrap's Wildflowers

Stace 4

Web searches included: 

https://www.plantlife.org.uk

https://www.botanical.com

http://www.seasonalwildflowers.com