Botany Photo of the Day

I do wish the Zones in which these plants are hardy would be included in the write-up.

I am discovering your site and I hope I'll enjoy it

Hello and welcome melliug!

Bruce: I'm hitting the wall at what I can reasonably(?) provide of my own time for each entry. Any new additional bit of information would mean I'd have to drop something else.

Fortunately, this format allows anyone to go in and add additional information if they so choose via the comments. I'd welcome it. If someone wanted to research the plants before they were posted, I could provide what is upcoming about 50% of the time.

In any case, to answer your question for this plant: a search on Google for “Petasites japonicus” zone.

Petasites japonicus var. giganteus is Z5 and native to Japan.

Source - The New RHS Dictionary, Index of Garden Plants, Mark Griffiths

Hey Bruce, this isn't a landscaping/gardening website. Look it up! Many plants are Northwest natives or plants which thrive in the various climate zones of this diverse region. The USDA (http://plants.usda.gov/) has a great database of North American natives with lots of details including hardiness info. Oregon State (http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ldplants/) also has a pretty decent website of particular interest to northwest gardeners.

Keep up the great work Daniel!!!

Recently I read that Butterbur leaves are useful in allergic rhinitis and has effect equivalent to Cetrizine. As I am suffering from the same, I would like to know the Indian name of Butterbur which I can use as remedy for allergic rhinitis.

I suspect this is the paper you are referencing: Schapowal, A. 2002. Randomised controlled trial of butterbur and cetirizine for treating seasonal allergic rhinitis. British Medical Journal. 324:144-146. I don't know about the Indian name, though.

I am aware that coltsfoot, a name used to describe other petasites plants, has medicinal value, in the way of smoking the dried leaves for a bad cough, and also has lung healing qualities in general. I have some of the giganteus growing, and am tempted to try it, but I'm interested in opinions on the coltsfoot connection

I am up in north, & have been asked to grow this, does anyone know do deer eat it. I don't believe deer eat regular colts foot.

I live in SE Connecticut and the plants do very well.
They tolerate the cold and were already breaking through the ground at the end of February.
The deer eat just about everything else in our yard but have not touched these.

I think this is the same thing I am growing here in Dayton, Ohio ... or some relative of it. I am on the cusp of zone 5/6. This last winter was closer to a true zone 5 and it is showing itself with tiny leaves at this point but it won't be long until they reach their small tractor seat size! After two years in the ground I would not call it invasive nor would I use the word reticent to describe it!
Cheers,
J. Heilman

this is growing in katonah ny. (north of ny, near a lake, zone 6a) will wilt in sun, very moist in area it is growing in, deer will not touch it. never see any of the flowers which come before leaves. it is unkillable but has not spread invasively.

We see petasites japonicus more and more in the Montreal area. While bicycling one hour north of here in the Lower Laurentians, I saw a very large patch growing by the road. Means it can survive -30C temperature. As long as its rootstaock is protected by a snow cover, I suppose.

FYI: Know that petasites (and coltsfoot aka tussilago farfara) all contain Pyrolizidine alkaloids , carcinogenic components- not so good in large and prolonged quantities or if your liver is compromised.