coltsfoot

[ kohlts-foot ]

noun

, plural colts·foots.

1. a composite plant, Tussilago farfara, having yellow, daisylike flowers, native to the Old World but widespread as a weed, formerly used as a cough remedy.

coltsfoot

/ ˈkəʊltsˌfʊt /

noun

1. a European plant, Tussilago farfara, with yellow daisy-like flowers and heart-shaped leaves: a common weed: family Asteraceae (composites)

Word History and Origins

Origin of coltsfoot¹

1545–55; colt + ’s ¹ + foot, so called from the shape of the leaves

Example Sentences

April to early May is the earliest you might expect to see skunk cabbage, coltsfoot and trillium blooming around Longmire, in the Mount Rainier National Park’s southwest corner.

From Seattle Times

The mud dried and the spring flowers came out: yellow coltsfoot, and white wood anemones in profusion—and the wall being built around Asgard was a glorious, imposing thing.

From Literature

Perry writes of blue lias and saltings; gorse thickets and bladderwrack; coltsfoot and cowslips.

From New York Times

A large pile of blue marine clay we had stockpiled while digging our pond is covered with coltsfoot every spring, a pretty yellow flower that favors moist clay soil.

From Washington Post

Among the products of the order, may be mentioned chicory, lettuce, the artichoke, the vegetable oyster, arnica, chamomile-flowers, wormwood, absinth, elecampane, coltsfoot, taraxacum, oil of tansy, etc.

From Project Gutenberg