Petasites frigidus var. palmatus

Western sweet coltsfoot, Western Sweet Coltsfoot

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Western sweet coltsfoot is a California native perennial found in northwestern California, northern Sierra Nevada, and northern and north-central Coast Ranges in forest and streambank habitats with wet soil at elevations below 1,400 meters. Flowering from January to April, this plant produces white to pale pink flowers in clusters with 10 to 20 heads, often with purple-tinged bell-shaped involucres. Growing with stems 20 to 80 centimeters tall, it develops distinctive large basal leaves 10 to 40 centimeters wide that are nearly round to heart-shaped with palmate lobes. Its broad leaves have a unique structure with coarsely toothed or lobed edges, appearing smooth on the upper surface and sometimes loosely woolly underneath. The plant produces small fruits 3 to 4.5 millimeters long with a feathery pappus 6 to 13 millimeters long.

Habitat: Forest, streambanks, generally wet soil

Bloom period: Jan-Apr

Elevation: < 1400 m

Bioregions: NW, n SNH, nw&ampn-c CW

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.