Herb library · Herb · Tussilago farfara
Coltsfoot
A yellow-flowered plant whose name, coughwort, says what it was used for: coughs and chest complaints, in both European and Chinese medicine. It has not been tested in trials in people, and it contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids, a family of compounds that can seriously damage the liver.
Serious warning
Coltsfoot contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids (reviews, 2020 and 2021), compounds that LiverTox says can cause sinusoidal obstruction syndrome, a severe liver injury that can lead to acute liver failure. An 18-month-old boy developed this injury after 15 months of a tea gathered as coltsfoot (he recovered); the plant turned out to be an alkaloid-rich lookalike.
Traditional use
Coltsfoot grows across Europe and Asia and wherever it has spread, on wet, clayey ground. European herbals gave its leaves as a syrup, tea or decoction for coughs and shortness of breath, and even smoked the dried leaves. The dried flower buds, Farfarae Flos or kuandonghua, are a widely used traditional Chinese medicine for cough, asthma and bronchitis. It has also been eaten as a vegetable.
Traditional energetics
Galenic (hot or cold, dry or moist)
Cold and dry. Culpeper's Complete Herbal (1814), p. 246 (opens in a new tab)
What studies show
- Insufficient
Cough and breathing problems: reviews in 2020 and 2021 describe laboratory and animal studies only, and call for well-designed studies before clinical use. No trials in people were found.
Be careful of
Cautions
- NoteMistaken identity is a real danger: after flowering, coltsfoot is easily confused with lookalike plants that also contain these alkaloids. A 2020 systematic review of the harm reports found that most could not confirm which plant had actually been taken.
- AmountA review of the Chinese flower-bud medicine calls it safe within the traditional dose range but says its potential liver toxicity needs more attention.
- ConditionLiverTox notes that infants appear to be especially sensitive to pyrrolizidine alkaloid injury. Do not give coltsfoot to babies or children.
- Ask a clinicianTalk with a clinician or pharmacist before using this if you take prescription medicines, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are giving it to a child.
From the old books
What herbals and dispensaries of the past printed. History, in their words.
“It is often used and with good success taken in a tobacco-pipe, being cut and mixed with a little oil of annis seeds.”
“Its presence is a certain indication of a clayey soil (W.). The flowers are rather fragrant, and continue so after having been carefully dried.”
Sources
- A review of the ethnobotanical value, phytochemistry, pharmacology, toxicity and quality control of Tussilago farfara L. (coltsfoot) (J Ethnopharmacol, 2021) (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Farfarae Flos: a review of botany, traditional uses, phytochemistry, pharmacology, and toxicology (J Ethnopharmacol, 2020) (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- A systematic review and quality assessment of case reports of adverse events for borage, coltsfoot and comfrey (Fitoterapia, 2020) (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Reversible hepatic veno-occlusive disease in an infant after consumption of pyrrolizidine-containing herbal tea (Eur J Pediatr, 1995) (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Comfrey (LiverTox) (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
Reviewed September 25, 2026.