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• Petasites frigidus

Petasites frigidus — northern sweet-coltsfoot

Facts

Native Americans of Alaska and northern Canada made extensive use of northern sweet-coltsfoot. They used the plant to make a cough medicine, a salad of young leaves, stems and flowers, and they used the mature leaves to create a makeshift funnel, a temporary container for berries, and to cover kegs of berries and rhubarb to discourage mold growth during winter storage.

Habitat

Fens, swamps

Characteristics

• Flowers

  Bract color

  the bracts are colored, or at least tinged with, pink, red or purple

  Bract cycle number

  • there are two main cycles of bracts
  • there is one main cycle of bracts

  Bract keels

  the bracts do not have keels

  Bract outer side hair type

  • the bracts are hairy on their outer surfaces, with curled, tangled, matted, or woolly hairs
  • the bracts are hairy, with simple hairs on their outer surface

  Bract outer side hairs

  the bracts are hairy on their outer surfaces

  Bract shape

  the main bracts are linear (long and very narrow)

  Bract spines

  the bracts have no spines

  Bract texture

  the bracts have a similar texture to a leaf

  Bract tip color

  the tips are a different color from the center of the bract

  Bract tip extension appearance

  NA

  Bract tip extension edge

  there are no projections from the bract tips

  Bract tip orientation

  the bracts are pressed against the plant, or spreading out at the tips

  Bract tip shape

  • the tips of the bracts acute (have a sharp point)
  • the tips of the bracts are obtuse (have a blunt point)

  Bracts

  the bracts in separate cycles are similar or gradually changing from the outer to inner cycles

  Disk flower color

  • white
  • yellow

  Disk flower lobe number

  5

  Disk flower number

  • 1-5
  • 11-20
  • 21-50
  • 6-10
  • more than 50

  Disk flower reproductive parts

  • the disk flower has both pollen- and seed-producing parts
  • the disk flower has either only pollen- or only seed-producing parts

  Flower head number

  each flowering stem has four or more flower heads on it

  Flower head outer flowers

  at the outer edge of the flower head, each flower has a single enlarged lobe or strap

  Flower head platform

  the base has no bristles or papery scales

  Flower head platform surface

  NA

  Flower head position

  some or all the flower heads are grouped in clusters of two or more

  Flower head profile

  • the disk is flat or nearly flat across the top
  • the disk is rounded across the top

  Flower head shape

  the sides of the flower head are roughly parallel, like a cylinder

  Flower type in flower heads

  the flower head has tubular disk flowers in the center and ray flowers, these often strap-shaped, around the periphery

  Height of flower head base

  1–12.8 mm

  Inflorescence branching (Solidago)

  NA

  Inflorescence shape

  • the inflorescence is flat-topped in profile
  • the inflorescence is not flat-topped but appears rounded, with some flower heads distinctly higher than others

  Inflorescence stem

  hairs are present on the stem of the inflorescence

  Ovary cross-section

  the ovary has five or more corners in cross-section

  Ovary lines or ribs

  • there are four to six lines or ribs visible on the ovary
  • there are seven to nine ribs visible on the ovary
  • there are ten or more ribs visible on the ovary

  Ovary profile

  in profile, the ovary is oblong (roughly rectangular but rounded at the ends)

  Peduncle hair type

  the hairs on the peduncles appear tangled or woolly

  Peduncle hairs

  the peduncles are hairy

  Ray flower color

  • pink to red
  • white

  Ray flower reproductive parts

  • the ray flowers have both carpels and stamens
  • the ray flowers have carpels or stamens, but not both

  Ray flowers

  • 1-5
  • more than 50

  Ray length

  0.1–6.3 mm

  Reproductive system

  all the flowers on some plants have carpels, while all the flowers on other plants have stamens

  Scale tip

  NA

  Smaller bracts at base of bracts

  there is a cycle of much smaller bracts outside the cycle of larger and longer bracts

  Style branch number

  the style has two branches

  Style branches

  the style branch is wider at the tip and has a flattened end, or the style branches are wider at the tips and have flattened ends

  Width of flower head base

  6–15 mm

• Fruits or seeds

  Number of pappus parts

  1

  Ovary length in developed fruit

  1.7–3.5 mm

  Seed hair tuft length

  6–13 mm

  Seed tuft type

  the pappus is made of very fine hairs or bristles

  Top of disk flower ovary

  NA

  Tuft or plume on fruit

  at least a part of the plume is made up of fine bristles

• Glands or sap

  Sap

  the sap is clear and watery

• Growth form

  Growth form

  the plant has one or more free-standing stems

  Plant lifespan

  the plant is perennial, it shows evidence of previous year's leaves, stems or stem bases

  Spines on plant

  the plant has no spines

  Underground organs

  the plant has a rhizome (a horizontal underground stem with roots growing from it)

• Leaves

  Hairs on underside of leaf blade

  the underside of the leaf is fuzzy or hairy

  Hairs on upper side of leaf blade

  • the upper side of the leaf is fuzzy or hairy
  • the upper side of the leaf is not hairy, or has very few hairs

  Leaf arrangement

  basal: the leaves are growing only at the base of the plant

  Leaf blade base

  • the leaf has a distinct petiole
  • the leaf has no petiole

  Leaf blade base shape

  the base of the leaf is cordate (heart-shaped) or sagittate (arrow-shaped)

  Leaf blade edges

  • the edge of the leaf blade has no teeth or lobes
  • the edge of the leaf blade has teeth

  Leaf blade hairs

  the leaf blade has tangled or woolly-looking hairs

  Leaf blade length

  20–400 mm

  Leaf blade shape

  • NA
  • the leaf blade is cordate (heart-shaped with backward-facing rounded lobes), or sagittate (arrow-shaped with backward-facing pointed lobes)

  Leaf blade surface colors

  there is no noticeable color variation on the upper surface of the leaf

  Leaf blade tip

  • the tip of the leaf blade is acute (sharply pointed)
  • the tip of the leaf blade is obtuse (bluntly pointed)
  • the tip of the leaf blade is rounded, with no point

  Leaf blade veins

  NA

  Leaf blade width

  100–400 mm

  Leaf disposition

  the lower leaves are larger, toothier, and/or on longer stalks than the upper leaves

  Leaf spines

  there are no spines on the leaf edges

  Leaf stalk

  • the leaves have leaf stalks
  • the leaves have no leaf stalks, but attach directly to the stem

  Leaf type

  leaves are simple (i.e., lobed or unlobed but not separated into leaflets)

  Leaflet number

  0

  Specific leaf type

  the leaf has lobes that radiate from the base, somewhat like a hand

  Teeth per side of leaf blade

  Up to 52

• Place

  Habitat

  wetlands

  New England state

  • Connecticut
  • Maine
  • Massachusetts
  • New Hampshire
  • Rhode Island
  • Vermont

  Specific habitat

  • fens
  • swamps

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Flowering stem cross-section

  the flowering stem is circular, or with lots of small angles

  Leaves on stem

  the flowering stem has no leaves above the base

  Stem internode hair type

  • at least some of the hairs on the stem are tangled, matted or woolly
  • the stem has no hairs between the nodes

  Stem internode hairs

  • the stem has hairs between the nodes
  • the stem has no hairs between the nodes

  Stem wings

  the stem does not have wings on it

Wetland status

Usually occurs in wetlands, but occasionally in non-wetlands. (Wetland indicator code: FACW)

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae