Naturalists are spotting colt's-foot everywhere this week
iNaturalist Community
Citizen Science
The dandelion-lookalike popping up along your trail edges and disturbed soil is actually colt's-foot, a plant that flowers before it grows leaves and has been used for centuries to soothe coughs.
Colt's-foot is a low-growing plant that people often confuse with dandelion because of its similar yellow flowers, but it's a different species with a strange trick: it blooms first on a leafless stalk, then grows its hoof-shaped leaves later. This week nearly 330 people logged confirmed sightings of it on iNaturalist, making it one of the most-observed plants in the app right now.
Key Findings
329 research-grade observations of colt's-foot were logged on iNaturalist in a single week
Colt's-foot ranks among the top trending plant species on the platform this week
The species is known for flowering on bare stalks before its leaves emerge, distinguishing it from lookalikes like dandelion
chevron_right Technical Summary
Colt's-foot, a small yellow-flowered plant often mistaken for dandelion, is having a big week on iNaturalist with 329 verified sightings, showing how citizen naturalists are tracking this early-blooming, weedy species across the landscape.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Trending: colt's-foot (Tussilago farfara) — 329 observations this week
colt's-foot is among the most observed plant species this week with 329 research-grade observations.
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
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Tussilago farfara, commonly known as coltsfoot, is a plant in the tribe Senecioneae in the family Asteraceae, native to Europe and parts of western and central Asia. The name "tussilago" is derived from the Latin tussis, meaning cough, and ago, meaning to cast or to act on. It has had uses in tra...