Coltsfoot, A Splash of Yellow Gold in Spring

Coltsfoot is often the very first plant I see blooming along the trail in early spring, its warm yellow dandelion-like blossoms nearly fluorescent suddenly rising from the faded leaves and twigs on the ground. For years I thought they were dandelions along the trail, a little small for the usual blooms attributed to the early cooler temperatures, until I saw them in the woods where sun-worshipping dandelions usually don’t grow. Where dandelions have rows and rows of pointed yellow petals from center to edge, coltsfoot has a central disk surrounded by very narrow rays crowded together around the outside edge.

Coltsfoot is not native to North America but are very common all over Europe, Asia, North Africa and parts of the middle east, from icy to near desert conditions. The “tuss” in the name refers to “tussis” or cough and the plant was used in traditional medicine in many places in the world. It shows up early in disturbed soil or waste areas where little else will grow. Apparently it’s happy to grow wherever it can set down roots and it’s a list of long guesses how it ended up over here with people arriving from those places may have carried it here intentionally as a medicinal or for an early plant for pollinators or it came over in some animal’s gut or on someone’s clothing or tools. They spread both by seeds and rhizomes but the plants die back to the soil after seeding. They form colonies where the plants have a chance to establish when soil isn’t further disturbed.

That’s exactly how I’ve seen it grow and spread through the years. While I do see it along the edges of the trail and up in the woods, anywhere along the trail or along the road I’ll also see it in piles of dirt anywhere they’ve sat long enough for seeds to sprout, and if it sits long enough they’ll form a happy little yellow colony that shows up each spring.

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