Common Butterbur

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Petasites hybridus
Common Butterbur
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Asterales Family: Asteraceae Tribe: Senecioneae Genus: Petasites Species: P. hybridus
Binomial name
Petasites hybridus (L.) P.Gaertn., B.Mey. & Scherb.

Common Butterbur (Petasites hybridus) is a herbaceous perennial plant in the family Asteraceae, native to Europe and northern Asia. The flowers are produced in the early spring, before the leaves appear; they are pale pink, with several inflorescences clustered on a 5-20 cm stem. The leaves are large, on stout 80-120 cm tall stems, round, with a diameter of 40-70 cm.

It is also called Bog rhubarb, Devil's hat and Pestilence wort. Synonyms include P. officinalis, P. ovatus and P. vulgaris.

[edit] Herbalism

the herbalist Nicholas Culpeper called it "a great preserver of the heart and reviver of the spirits". Its many uses in folk medicine include applications as a diuretic and muscle relaxant, and to treat coughs, fever, wounds, stammering, headaches, asthma and stress. not all of these uses are supported by scientific research.

[edit] Further reading

• Howard, Michael. traditional folk Remedies (Century, 1987) P.111.