Palmate Coltsfoot

Quinault - qwai´’ax    
Quileute - qwai´’exput

Family:  Aster (Asteraceae)   
Genus:  Petasites   
Species:  palmatus

Botanical Description:   Multi-stemmed perennial, with narrow, creeping rhizomes (horizontal, underground stem, often sends out roots or shoots from its nodes), leaves preceded by flowering stems, height to 50 cm. Deeply divided 5-7 toothed lobed heart or kidney-shaped, green, hairless above, woolly below, basal leaves.  Whitish-pinkish disk flowers or off-white ray flowers 7-16 mm high. Prefers low to medium elevations, moist-wet forests, swamps, & clearings.

Ethnographic Information:   Leaves used by Quinault Indians to cover berries when cooking in a pit. Root & leaves used in various medicinal preparation. Quinault smashed root & soaked as wash for swellings or sore eyes. Coltsfoot root was chewed or soaked in hot water & drank as tea for tuberculosis, chest problems, sore throat, & stomach ulcers