Petasites frigidus (L.) Fries var. frigidus
Includes Petasites hyperboreus Rydb.
Plant
The Kodiak region has two kinds of coltsfoot, usually found in moist or wet ground. They have large leaves, each growing from a single stem that appears separately from the earlier developing flower stalk. Both species have long, creeping rootstocks (rhizomes). They can be distinguished by the shapes of their leaves. Petasites frigidus leaves are spade-like or triangular and shallowly lobed. Petasites hyberboreus leaves are triangular, kidney-shaped, or egg-shaped in outline, and deeply lobed.
Preparation: The roots are sun or oven dried for future use.
Medicine: People use coltsfoot to treat lung, respiratory, and ear problems. They chew a piece of the raw, fresh, or dried rootstock and swallow the juice. They also drink a tea made from the brewed roots or leaves. The rootstock is preferred because it makes stronger medicine than the leaves. In the past, people frequently treated tuberculosis with coltsfoot. Coltsfoot is also said relieve menstrual cramps and may have been used to treat venereal disease.
