Coltsfoot

Value to bees

Nectar

Moderate

Pollen

High

As a honey crop

Not a honey source

Which bees, and why

Bumblebee queens emerging in February and early spring mining bees rely on it heavily. Its value is entirely a matter of timing — the same flower in July would be unremarkable.

An open composite head that closes at night and in dull weather, and opens fully in the thin February sun when bees can fly.

Worth knowing

A moderate nectar source and a generous pollen source, at a moment in the year when both are close to unavailable.

Flowering

In flower

February to April (northern hemisphere)

One of the earliest flowering plants of the northern spring, sometimes opening in late January in mild years.

Growing it

Conditions

Sun or part shade on damp, disturbed, often heavy or stony ground. It colonises spoil, landslip and roadside cuttings readily.

Size

10-30 cm tall in flower.

Native range

Europe, Asia and North Africa, on disturbed ground, banks, spoil, verges and landslip. Naturalised in North America.

Suits

Meadow or wildflower area

• It spreads by deep rhizome and is very difficult to remove once established, so plant it only where that is acceptable.
• Best left where it occurs naturally on banks and disturbed ground.
• Its historical use for coughs is the origin of both its names, and remains traditional use rather than established evidence.

What it looks like

Solitary yellow dandelion-like flower heads on scaly, leafless, purple-tinged stems, appearing on bare or disturbed ground long before the large hoof-shaped leaves emerge — which is the origin of the old name son-before-father.