Countryside Ranger column: What's the difference between a dandelion and coltsfoot?

Whilst the full bloom of dandelions may not be seen for a while, there will be some hardy individuals in flower this month.

When you actually dig a bit deeper (so to speak), things get a bit more complex and interesting. That familiar yellow flower is not actually a flower at all. Rather, it’s a tight flower head made up of many individual small flowers, known as florets.

This is a characteristic feature of this family of plants – the asteraceae – which includes daisies, thistles and (unsurprisingly) asters.

Dandelion

The florets can take two forms: disc and ray. Daisies have both forms, the central yellow section being made up of disc florets, while the white outer parts are the ray variety. Dandelions, on the other hand, have only ray florets.

The complexity increases when we try to think about the dandelion at a species level. Taraxacum officinale, as the dandelion is known scientifically, is not a simple species. Instead, it is a group of over 200 subspecies, collectively known as an aggregate. Aggregates are difficult things to deal with, as their various sub and microspecies are often virtually indistinguishable to the untrained eye. In fact, unless you’re a proper botanist, it’s probably best to try and ignore the whole concept (I know I do).

Another early flowering member of the asteraceae is coltsfoot. The flower is superficially similar to the dandelion and the plants’ names also have a common derivation – the shape of the leaves.

As many will be aware, dandelion is from the French dent-de-lion, reflecting the lion-toothed edge of the leaves.

In the case of coltsfoot, the leaves are said to (vaguely) resemble a horse’s hoof.

It is also known as ‘son-before-the-father’ because its bright yellow flowers appear in early spring, whilst the leaves do not turn up until much later, once flowering is all but over.

Coltsfoot

Coltsfoot can be found in a range of habitats, often in places where the ground has been disturbed, such as waste ground, spoil heaps and river banks.

The plant produces seeds very similar to those of the dandelion, which are dispersed by the wind. However, most coltsfoot grows from rhizomes – underground stems which spread from the parent plant and produce new growth every now and then.

Herbalists used to use coltsfoot to cure chest complaints. Indeed, the scientific name for this genus, Tussilago, is from the Latin tussis, meaning cough. The leaves were either made into a tea or they could be dried and smoked (probably not a good idea for a bad chest).

However, coltsfoot has been found to contain alkaloid toxins, which may cause liver damage. As a result, its use was banned in Germany, since when a variety of the species has been produced containing no detectable amounts of the toxins.

Coltsfoot, and other early-flowering plants, perform a valuable ecological function by providing nectar for bees and butterflies.

At a time when food can be hard to come by, this can be the difference between survival and starvation.