Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Coltsfoot



So many plants are popping up out of the forest here.It has been incrediably hot & humid & we are expecting storms today as a cold front is to move in & give us more springlike weather.
One of the plants growing everywhere in the forest looks like a dandelion,but is called coltsfoot,its flowers on stems appearing out of the earth without leaves.The leaves appear later,when the seeds are set.People have used this perennial herbaceous plant as a cough suppressant,for sore throats,the leaves are used as tabacco by some.It can be really toxic to your liver tho,so I would stay away from trying this plant.Last night I noticed the flowers close shut when the sun goes down.

2 comments:

Baggaraggs: said...

Wow Phyllis, your knowledge of herbaceous plants blows me away. Good for you. I hope you get more spring like weather. Did the sheep get sheared? Hugs, Robin

tiptoethruphylsgarden.blogspot.com said...

Tomorrow we have an appt. to take our blades to be sharpenned,so sometime soon,they are really minding this heat.We should`ve done the sharpenning in the fall when we sheared then,we knew it was going to be needing done.phylliso