*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
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