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*Tussilago farfara Linnaeus. Coltsfoot. Phen: Mar-Jun. Hab: Roadsides, especially gravelly or shaly roadbanks or ditches, streamside gravel bars, disturbed ground. Dist: Native of Eurasia. This species has spread rapidly southward from the Northeast, where it was introduced in North America. Fernald (1950) considered its southern limit to be "New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Ohio". Gleason (1952) extended it to WV. Strausbaugh and Core (1978) reported that the first collection in WV was actually in 1933, "migrating southward year by year, now abundant and often conspicuous along highways, on strip-mined areas and other denuded areas, in every county of the state". First reported in NC in 1971, it is now rather common in most of the mountain counties of that state, and is beginning to appear at scattered sites in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain. Though preferring a cool and moist climate, Tussilago seems likely to continue to increase in abundance and to spread further east, south, and west from its area of primary occurrence in ne. North America and the upland Southeast.

Origin/Endemic status: Eurasia

Synonymy ⓘ: = C, F, FNA20, G, Il, K1, K3, K4, Mi, NE, NY, Oh3, Pa, SE1, Tn, Va, W, WV; = n/a – RAB, Tat

Links to other floras: = Tussilago farfara - FNA20

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Wetland Indicator Status:

  • Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: FACU
  • Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: FACU
  • Midwest: FACU
  • Northcentral & Northeast: FACU

Heliophily ⓘ: 7

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image of plant© Erik Danielson source | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Richard & Teresa Ware CC-BY-NC, permission granted to NCBG | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Alan Cressler: Tussilago farfara, Highway 143, Roan Highlands, Cherokee National Forest, Carter County, Tennessee 2 by Alan Cressler source | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Gary P. Fleming | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Richard & Teresa Ware CC-BY-NC, permission granted to NCBG | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Scott Ward | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Erik Danielson source | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Erik Danielson source | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Scott Ward | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Erik Danielson source | Original Image ⭷

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Horticultural Information

NCBG trait

Intro: Erect perennial of roadsides, especially gravelly or shaly road banks or ditches, streamside gravel bars and other areas of disturbed ground. Native of Eurasia.

Stems: Stems reddish and scaly with many clasping, lance-shaped bracts; hairy.

Leaves: Leaves mostly basal, long-petiolate, broadly rounded with a notched base, 2-8 in. long and wide, palmately veined, scallop-edged, persistently white-woolly beneath; leaves develop after flowering.

Inforescence:

Flowers: Composite flowers (heads) solitary at stem tip; heads begin cylindric but expand, 1-1 1/4 in. wide, consisting of numerous bright yellow ray florets and a smaller number of yellow tubular disk florets; protruding styles not divided.

Fruits: Fruit a fluffy cluster of white-tufted seeds.

Comments: This species has spread rapidly southward from the Northeast, where it was introduced to North America.

Height: 3-12 in.

plant sale text:

bloom table text:

description: Erect perennial of roadsides, especially gravelly or shaly road banks or ditches, streamside gravel bars and other areas of disturbed ground. Native of Eurasia.

stems: Stems reddish and scaly with many clasping, lance-shaped bracts; hairy.

leaves: Leaves mostly basal, long-petiolate, broadly rounded with a notched base, 2-8 in. long and wide, palmately veined, scallop-edged, persistently white-woolly beneath; leaves develop after flowering.

inflorescence:

flowers: Composite flowers (heads) solitary at stem tip; heads begin cylindric but expand, 1-1 1/4 in. wide, consisting of numerous bright yellow ray florets and a smaller number of yellow tubular disk florets; protruding styles not divided.

fruits: Fruit a fluffy cluster of white-tufted seeds.

comments: This species has spread rapidly southward from the Northeast, where it was introduced to North America.

cultural notes:

germination code:

native range: Europe & Asia