The Living Forest (147) : Common Butterbur

The Living Forest (147) : Common Butterbur

Common Butterbur is a plant that likes to grow on wet, marshy ground in damp forests and adjacent to rivers or streams.
Its flowers are produced in the early spring, before the leaves appear.

Butterbur is so called because its huge rhubarb-like leaves (40 to 70 cm. diameter in summer) with their downy undersides were used to wrap around butter in the days before refrigerators.

The plant has been used medicinally for centuries.
During the Middle Ages, Butterbur was used to treat plague and fever. Nowadays it’s used in homeopathy as a remedy for migraine.

Dutch name : Groot Hoefblad
German name : Gewöhnliche Pestwurz (auch Bach-Pestwurz oder Rote Pestwurz genannt)
Latin name : Petasites hybridus