dandelion – wildeherb.com

Coltsfoot Blooms and Dandelion Salad

April 20, 2011 by wilde

Coltsfolt was in full bloom in the sun yesterday, yet hardly noticeable the previous few cloudy days. The first I saw it blooming this year was on 15 April.

Spring continues to bring out the posies. In the flower beds the crocus blooms are dying back and the anemones and hyacinths are taking their turns blooming. Tulips are still making leaves and starting to push up their flowers. Forsythia buds grew out last week to first blossom on 14 April.

Red-spotted newts were seen floating around in the pond, too!

Another plant showing the elevation effect on bloom time is a Star Magnolia on our ridge. It had half-opened three or four blossoms on 15 April, while another one down in the valley was in full bloom on the same day.

Now that we’re almost a third of the way into Spring, the dandelions are out. This past weekend the first dandelion flower was picked. Once the dandelions show their happy faces, it’s notable for kicking off the lawn care season. Some people can’t stand to see the bright yellow flowers “messing up” their yards. We don’t mind them and prefer to leave things in more of a natural state.

Grass is starting to get long enough to cut in some areas and the downed wood from winter and windy spring weather has to be picked up. Gardening activities can resume when the weather allows, but the early spring salads have already been enjoyed. Including dandelion!

Ham and dandelion dinners are common around these parts in the week or two just before Easter. The idea is to pick the leaves before the blossoms emerge because then they are too bitter to enjoy. A fellow who was involved with making ham-n-dandelion dinner for 300 people admitted that his group buys the dandelion commercially. I’m sure there are a lot of country people and Amish that pick their own dandelion leaves.

Dandelion salad is a leafy salad with a hot dressing. Hot bacon dressing gives a nice flavor and wilts the greens just enough to soften them a little…a real Spring time treat.

Coltsfoot Going to Seed by the Road

August 14, 2012May 4, 2010 by wilde

: Image via Wikipedia Coltsfoot

The bright yellow roadside flowers of Coltsfoot, Tussilago farfara, have long faded away for another year. This Spring Coltsfoot bloomed during the last two weeks of March and the first week of April in South-Central Pennsylvania.

The yellow composite flowers remind one of dandelions, and so do the seed heads. After the flowers are visited by their pollinators the flowers produce their seeds in round heads, just like a dandelion, although the seed heads may be more compact in shape and not quite as round.

Dandelion-like seed heads of coltsfoot flowers.

All it takes is a gust of wind or physical disturbance from a passerby to disperse the seeds of Coltsfoot. (Photo taken 18Apr2010.)

The fluffy seed head will stand easily a foot tall, so they are usually taller than dandelion seed heads that so many people hate to see in their lawns.

The hoof-shaped leaves of Coltsfoot will continue to grow throughout the spring and summer until they are quite large, even larger than your hand.

Seed heads and leaves of Coltsfoot. Photo taken 2May2010.

Dandelion seed heads are completely spherical and their jagged leaves are easy to spot. Photo taken 2May2010.

Because they have very different leaf shapes no one should mistake dandelion for coltsfoot should they be interested in collecting seeds for their own dispersal.

Coltsfoot – Identifying the Roadside Dandelion

August 14, 2012March 26, 2010 by wilde

Blooming coltsfoot is another sign of Spring. Coltsfoot only blooms in very early Spring in Pennsylvania, during the last week of March and the first week of April. I first saw them blooming on March 24th this year and expect them to continue blooming for another week.

Coltsfoot, Tussilago farfara, can be mistaken for a dandelion, Taraxacum officinale, at first glance. Closer inspection shows the flower head is similar to dandelion, but the leaves of coltsfoot are quite distinct. Can’t show the leaves just yet as they haven’t emerged. That’s one big difference between coltsfoot and dandelion, dandelion leaves appear before the flower does. Another difference is that the dandelions aren’t blooming yet. So, near the end of March you’re likely to find dandelion leaves but no flowers, and coltsfoot flowers, but no leaves.

Single coltsfoot flower on the forest floor near the lane.

Coltsfoot flowers are composites of yellow, just like the dandelion, but the rays are thinner and more delicate-looking in the coltsfoot. Once the flower is pollinated, the resulting seeds are arranged in a fluffy ball, just like a dandelion, and its seeds are dispersed by the wind, too.

Coltsfoot flower stem with linear bracts of maroon color.

Note the small bracts or scales along the flower stem. These inch-long bracts are held close to the flower stem and are maroon to brown.

The true leaves are supposedly shaped like that of a young horse’s hoof, thus the name coltsfoot, but I don’t see the resemblance. Leaves are heart-shaped at the base and emerge after the flowering is all but finished. Leaves continue to grow larger for a couple weeks more. The coltsfoot leaves will finish out the summer looking like little canopies all along the roadside where the flowers once bloomed.