Beautiful Botanicals: Coltsfoot – The Botanical Used To Cure A Cough
Joanne Howdle considers the various uses of one of spring's earliest flowering plants can be put to.
Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) is a cheerful sight along road and path sides in March, being one of the first wildflowers to emerge in spring.
It is widespread across Europe, Asia, and North Africa and is also common in North and South America where it was introduced by early settlers as a medicinal herb of ancient standing.
The lemon-yellow flowerheads usually appear in March. At first glance coltsfoot might appear as a colony of short dandelions, but unlike dandelion this botanical has a thick and snake-like stem covered in reddish scales and white, felted woolly hairs. When in flower coltsfoot has no leaves because the botanical doesn’t produce them until later in the year. In April the flowers give way to tufty-topped seeds. In the past, people in the Highlands used to gather the seed-heads from coltsfoot and stuff bedding and mattresses with them. Coltsfoot leaves are eaten by birds, bees, and the caterpillars of several species of moth.
Coltsfoot was known in the Middle Ages by the scientific names ungula caballina (horse hoof) and pes pulli (foal’s foot) due to the supposed resemblance of the young leaf of the plant to the foot of a quadruped. This is the reason the botanical still has the common name coltsfoot in the UK, France, Germany and Italy today. One Scots name for coltsfoot is “son-afore-the-father”, because the star-like flowers appear with the first fine weather in early spring, and wither before the broad leaves of the plant come out. Another Scots word for coltsfoot is “tushy-lucky”, which is thought to be a corruption of the Latin “tussilago” derived from “tussis” – literally, “cough”. The second part of the name comes from the Latin “agere” – “to drive”. In short, the Latin root of this botanical’s scientific name can roughly be translated as ‘that which drives away (a) cough’.
In fact, historically this botanical was used as a remedy for coughs. The great herbalists of antiquity including Dioscorides and Pliny the Elder recommended the dried leaves of coltsfoot, be burned, and inhaled as a cough remedy, maintaining that a sip of raisin wine must be taken after each inhalation. Although this practice probably did not cure a cough, smoking coltsfoot leaves is still thought to be a good herbal alternative to tobacco. The original author of Flora Scotica (1777), John Lightfoot, states that coltsfoot leaves were perhaps Scotland’s most famous tobacco substitute, and also, strangely, smoked as a cure for asthma! Richard Mabey, in Flora Britannica (1996), includes oral testimony by an informant with a sweet tooth who resorted to eating Coltsfoot Rock, because this could be obtained from a chemist as a cough remedy rather than a confection, and so was not rationed in wartime. In Paris coltsfoot flowers used to be painted as a sign on the doorpost of an apothecary.
Coltsfoot flowers are edible cooked and can be eaten raw in mixed salads. The leaves which are picked when very young can also be eaten raw whilst dried coltsfoot leaves can be used as a cooking spice and can replace salt, especially for people who must follow a salt-free diet. Coltsfoot flowers make a delicious wine and in gin manufacture add a delicious sweetness to the spirit.
n Joanne Howdle is tour and events co-ordinator at the multi award-winning Dunnet Bay Distillers Ltd.
Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) is a cheerful sight along road and path sides in March, being one of the first wildflowers to emerge in spring. Coltsfoot is widespread across Europe, Asia, and North Africa, from Svalbard to Morocco and Russia to China. The botanical is also a common wildflower in North and South America, where it was introduced by early settlers as a medicinal herb of ancient standing.
The lemon-yellow flowerheads of this botanical usually appear in March. At first glance coltsfoot might appear as a colony of short dandelions, but unlike dandelion this botanical has a thick and snake-like stem, covered in reddish scales and white, felted woolly hairs. When in flower coltsfoot has no leaves because the botanical doesn’t produce them until later in the year. In April the flowers give way to tufty-topped seeds. In the past, people in the Highlands used to gather the seed-heads from coltsfoot and stuff bedding and mattresses with them. Coltsfoot leaves are eaten as a food plant by birds, bees, and the caterpillars of several species of moth.
Coltsfoot was known in the Middle Ages by the scientific names ungula caballina – ‘horse hoof’ and pes pulli – ‘foal’s foot’, due to the supposed resemblance of the young leaf of the plant to the foot of a quadruped. This is the reason the botanical still has the common name coltsfoot in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy today. One Scots name for coltsfoot is ‘son-afore-the-father’, because the star-like, flowers of the botanical appear with the first fine weather in early spring, and wither before the broad, leaves of the plant come out. Another Scots’ word for coltsfoot is ‘tushy-lucky’, which is thought to be a corruption of the Latin tussilago derived from the Latin word tussis – literally ‘cough’. The second part of the name comes from the Latin agere – ‘to drive’. In short, the Latin root of this botanical’s scientific name can roughly be translated as ‘that which drives away (a) cough’.
In fact, historically this botanical was used as a remedy for coughs. The great herbalists of antiquity including Dioscorides and Pliny the Elder recommended the dried leaves of coltsfoot, be burned, and inhaled as a cough remedy, maintaining that a sip of raisin wine must be taken after each inhalation. Although this practice probably did not cure a cough, smoking coltsfoot leaves is still thought to be a good herbal alternative to tobacco. The original author of Flora Scotica (1777), John Lightfoot states that coltsfoot leaves were perhaps Scotland’s most famous tobacco substitute, and also strangely smoked as a cure in traditional medicine for asthma! Richard Mabey, in his botanical and cultural compendium Flora Britannica (1996), includes oral testimony by an informant with a sweet tooth who resorted to eating Coltsfoot Rock, because this could be obtained from a chemist as remedy for coughs rather than a confection, and so it was not rationed in wartime. In Paris, coltsfoot flowers used to be painted as a sign on the doorpost of an apothecary.
Coltsfoot flowers are edible cooked and can be eaten raw in mixed salads. The leaves which are picked when very young can also be eaten raw in a salad, whilst dried coltsfoot leaves can be used as a cooking spice and can replace salt, especially for people who must follow a salt-free diet. Coltsfoot flowers make a delicious wine and in gin manufacture they add a delicious sweetness to the spirit.
Joanne Howdle is tour and events co-ordinator at the multi-award-winning Dunnet Bay Distillers Ltd.