Butterbur - Petasites hybridus
Family - Asteraceae
Also known as Sweet Coltsfoot, Bog Rhubarb, Umbrella plant

This plant is poisonous.

Members of the Daisy family, Butterbur spp. are a perennial herb of mostly quite robust plants, spreading mainly by vegetative reproduction from creeping underground rhizomes, producing large Rhubarb-like leaves during the growing season. The short spikes of flowers are produced just before the leaves in spring, emerging with only a few elongated basal bracts and are usually green, flesh coloured or dull white depending on species. Common Butterbur (Petasites hybridus) is a herbaceous perennial typically found growing in shady places beside waterways, ditches, in wet meadows and copses, marshes, flood plains and damp roadsides. Native to mainland Europe, Scandinavia, northern Asia, it is an introduced to North America. Widely distributed in Britain, female plants are found only in north and central England. The plant is called Butterbur as the huge rhubarb-like leaves with their downy undersides were supposed to have been used to wrap around butter during hot weather in the days before refrigerators.

Butterburs are found in the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere. They prefer moist environments such as riverbanks, marshes and ditches. Petasites is very closely related to the genus Tussilago (Colt's foot), and like the Coltsfoot, sends up flowers before the leaves appear. Individual plants are dioecious functioning as either as males or females. Butterbur is also related to the huge genus Senecio (see the Ragwort pages). The honey-scented flowers are popular with early queen bees, although only male or sterile flowers produce nectar.

Butterbur was apparently used by native Americans as a remedy for headache and inflammation and was highly valued as a medicinal plant since ancient times when the roots were dried and used to treat fevers, particularly the plague. Butterbur naturally contains components called pyrrolizidine alkaloids which are toxic to the liver, recent research has shown that extracts of butterbur contain active ingredients that are extremely effective in preventing and reducing the pain associated with migraines and relieving the symptoms of asthma. The concentrations are often highest in the rhizomes and stalks, and lowest in the leaves.

It sends up stalks of pale pink or reddish dense flower clusters very early in spring, often as early in the year as February, with several inflorescences clustered on a 5-20cm (2-8in) stem. The short spikes of flowers are produced just before these leaves in spring, emerging with only a few elongated basal bracts and are usually green, flesh coloured or dull white depending on species.

This plant is poisonous.

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