coltsfoot

American  

[kohlts-foot] / ˈkoʊltsˌfʊt /

noun

coltsfoots plural

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.

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coltsfoot British  

/ ˈkəʊltsˌfʊt /

noun

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

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• coltsfoots
  plural

Etymology

Origin of coltsfoot

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 • Mar. 8, 2023

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

From New York Times • Jun. 7, 2017

Puzic bought toothpaste, soap and a bundle of broad coltsfoot leaves.

From Time Magazine Archive

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 "Norse Mythology" by Neil Gaiman

Other nests vary in the materials employed, moss being sometimes used instead of white lichen, and willow-cotton or feathers instead of the down of the coltsfoot.

From British Birds in their Haunts by Johns, Rev. C. A.