- Region
- Europe
- Origin
- Europe, western and central Asia and North Africa; naturalised in North America. Tussilago farfara
Europe · Herb · № 100
Tussilago farfara
Herb · Europe
Coltsfoot
Tussilago farfara
One of the oldest cough herbs; the leaf contains soothing mucilage. Because of its toxic alkaloids it is now advised against.
Safety notes
Contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids that can severely damage the liver and are carcinogenic. Restricted or banned in several countries; do not take internally.
Cautions by tradition (3)
- Herbal medicine worldwide: Poisonous or risky: only under expert supervision. No dosage is given here on purpose.
- Chinese materia medica: Contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids that damage the liver: do not use yourself, not during pregnancy or breastfeeding. The book does not mention this risk.
- Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) medicine: Contains liver-damaging pyrrolizidine alkaloids: do not use.
Preparation
Formerly used as tea, syrup or smoked; no longer recommended. No dosage is given here.
Use in traditions
Tussilago means 'cough dispeller'; Pliny and Dioscorides already described it. In Paris the plant was painted on apothecaries' signs. In China the flower (kuan dong hua) is used.
Applications
Use by tradition
How different herbal traditions describe this herb. Amounts are traditional guidelines checked for obvious errors; they are not medical advice. For poisonous plants no dosage is given on purpose.
Herbal medicine worldwide
Attributed effects
Relaxing expectorant, anticatarrhal, soothing; externally tissue-repairing.
Preparation and amount
Traditionally used forms: tea, decoction, tincture, syrup.
Caution: Poisonous or risky: only under expert supervision. No dosage is given here on purpose.
Chinese materia medica
- Nature and taste
- pungent, warm
- Meridians
- lung
Attributed effects
In Chinese medicine the flower (kuan dong hua) is used to make rebellious lung energy descend in cough with much phlegm from cold, and with blood in the phlegm.
Preparation and amount
Deliberately no dosage is given here: only under the supervision of a qualified therapist.
Combinations
- With zi wan for cough
Caution: Contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids that damage the liver: do not use yourself, not during pregnancy or breastfeeding. The book does not mention this risk.
Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) medicine
Attributed effects
As a cough mixture for consumption.
Preparation and amount
Steep a few roots in a bottle of spirits; take by the teaspoon.
Caution: Contains liver-damaging pyrrolizidine alkaloids: do not use.
- Ways to prepare herbs
- Tea (infusion)DecoctionTinctureSyrup, honey and oxymel
- Formulas
- Ding chuan tang