Coltsfoot Plant: Description of Its Flowers, Leaves, and Growing Conditions
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Coltsfoot is a light-loving plant that flowers earlier than any other herb. It grows mainly on southern slopes, where the midday sun strikes it almost at a right angle and warms it with the greatest intensity. This preference for the sunniest, warmest exposures is what allows coltsfoot to open its flowers while much of the surrounding ground is still bare.
Roots and rhizome
Beneath the soil, coltsfoot has a long, branching rhizome. Adventitious roots extend downward from this rhizome, anchoring the plant and drawing up water and nutrients. The rhizome is the plant's storage and survival organ, allowing it to overwinter and send up new growth each spring.
Flowering shoots and the structure of the flower head
The flowering shoots of coltsfoot are covered with small, scale-like leaves rather than the broad foliage that appears later. The flower head, or capitulum, is of two kinds combined in a single "basket." In the central part are tubular flowers bearing both stamens and pistils, while around the edges sit ligulate (strap-shaped) flowers with long, narrow corollas that have neither stamens nor pistils.
Pollination by insects
Bees, bumblebees, and butterflies — such as the brimstone and the small tortoiseshell — along with various flies, fly over the yellow flowers of coltsfoot. Coltsfoot is an insect-pollinated plant, and its early, bright yellow blooms are an important nectar source at a time of year when few other flowers are available.
Seeds and wind dispersal
The seeds of coltsfoot are equipped with tiny parachutes that ripen in place on the former flower baskets and are carried off by the wind. Together these parachuted seeds form a grey, downy ball, much like a smaller version of a dandelion's seed head, ready to scatter on the breeze.
The plant's seasonal life cycle
Once the fruits have ripened, the flowering shoots of coltsfoot die back. In their place, growth shoots with large leaves develop from buds on the rhizome, appearing roughly a month later. Throughout the summer, the leaves on these shoots produce organic substances, which are then stored as reserves in the rhizome to fuel the next season's early flowering.
Why the plant is called "mother-and-stepmother"
The name coltsfoot bears in its native tongue — "mother-and-stepmother" — comes from a simple test you can do once the leaves have grown out. Pick a leaf and press it to your cheek, first one side and then the other. The underside of the leaf has a felt-like, downy surface that feels warm — the caring "mother" — while the upper side is smooth and cold — the "stepmother." This contrast between the two faces of a single leaf is the memorable feature behind the plant's folk name.
