Coltsfoot (Tusilago farfara)

Coltsfoot
(Tusilago farfara)

Bonny small flowret, with the golden hair,
Coming, like Butterbur and the Black Thorn,
With bloom before the leaves, helping ’t adorn
The earth with beauty when flowers are rare;
Welcome to Spring time! Wisely ’t is ordain’d 5
That in succession all the year flowers come
In grand variety, making earth the home
Of happiness, to all who are not chain’d
Down to the dust by ignorance and sin.
And when thy cotton-down lined leaves come forth, 10
They have their healing value on this earth,
Where no weed grows that ne’er contains within
Its veins some remedy for bodily ills,
And thus its Maker’s purpose faithfully fulfils.

George Markham Tweddell
[Sonnets on Trees and Flowers, pp. 49-50]