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HERB ALLEY
Coltsfoot
(Tussilago Farfara)
COMMON NAMES: British
tobacco, bullsfoot, butterbur, coughwort, flower velure, foal’s foot, horsefoot,
horsehoof.
MEDICINAL PARTS: Leaves,
flowers, roots.
DESCRIPTION: Coltsfoot
is a perennial plant found in the U.S., Europe, and the East Indies in
wet areas such as streambanks, in pastures, and on ridges or embankments,
prefering loamy and limestone soils. The creeping rootstock sends up first
the downy white, scaly flower stems topped by large yellow flowers, then
the cordate, dentate leaves from whose shape the plant gets its name.
The leaves stand on long footstalks and are glabrous above and downy white
beneath.
PROPERTIES AND USES:
Astringent, demulcent, emollient, expectorant. Coltsfoot is one of
the timek-tried remedies for respiratory problems. Use it for coughs,
colds, hoarseness, bronchitis, bronchial asthma, pleurisy, and throat catarrh.
For chronic bronchitis, shortness of breath, and dry cough, try smoking
the leaves. Coltsfoot can also be used for diarrhea. The crushed
leaves or a decoction can be applied externally for insect bites, inflammations,
general swellings, burns, erysipelas, leg ulcers, and phlebitis.
Coltsfoot is an excellent
remedy for catarrh, consumption, and all lung troubles. It is very
sootheing to the mucous membranes. Good results are obtained when
a tea is made by steeping a heaping tablespoon in a quart of water, and
using as a fomentation, or just moisten a cloth in the tea and apply to
the lung and throat. Is excellent to relieve the chest of phlegm
in all coughs, asthma, bronchitis, whooping cough, and spasmodic cough.
Is good for inflammations and swellings, piles, stomach troubles, and ague
or fever. The powdered leaves snuffed up the nostrils are excellent
for nasal obsrtuction and headache. For scrofula or scrofulous tumors,
take internally or make a poultice and apply externally. Coltsfoot
has been much used in cough and lung medicines. It is excellent made
into a cough syrup combined with other herbs.
Its Latin name means
“cough dispeller”. So popular was it in the Medieval days that a
picture of the Coltsfoot leaf was painted on the door of the apothecary
signifying it as the office of a doctor. One of the best cough remedies
there is, Coltsfoot is also useful for asthma, bronchitis, and difficulty
in breathing.
PREPERATION AND DOSAGE:
Collect the flowers as soon as they open, the leaves when they reach full
size.
Infusion: Use 1 to 3
tsp. leaves or flowers with 1 cup water; steep for 30 minutes and strain.
Sweeten with honey and take warm.
Juice: Take 1 to 2 tbsp
three times a day.
Tincture: Take 1 to 2
tsp. at a time.
The Herb Book by
John Lust
The Science and Art of Herbology
by Rosemary Gladstar.
Back to Eden by
Jethro Kloss
