Petasites hybridus (L.) P. Gaertn., B. Meyer & Scherb.

Petasites hybridus (L.) Gaertner, Meyer & Scherbius, Fl. Wett. 3 1 : 184. 1801.
Tussilago hybrido L. Sp. PI. 866. 1753. Tussilago Petasites L. Sp. PI. 866. 1753. Petasites officinalis Moench. Meth. 568. 1794. Petasites vulgaris Desf. Fl. Atlant. 2: 270. 1800. Petasites Petasites Karst. Deuts. Fl. 1062. 1883.
A perennial, with a thick, fleshy, cylindric rootstock; scape erect, 1-3 dm. or in fruit up to 1 ra. high, white or reddish, floccose; scales lanceolate, 2-5 cm. long, the lower often ending in a small leaf-blade; petioles of the basal leaves 1-2 dm. long; blades round-reniform or roundcordate, slightly angled, dentate, 1-3 dm. broad, above glabrous or slightly araehnoid-floccose when young, beneath grayish-tomentose or in age greener; heads many in an ovoid or lanceoblong raceme; involucre of the predominently hermaphrodite plant (Tussilago Petasites L.) turbinate, 7-8 mm. long; bracts 12-15, oblong, acute, purplish; ray-flowers few or wanting; corolla tubular, 4 mm. long, irregularly cleft at the apex; style-branches oblong; disk-flowers numerous, sterile; corolla pink or purplish, the tube 4 mm. long, cylindric, the throat campanulate, 2 mm. long, the lobes lanceolate; anthers 2 mm. long; style-branches conic; involucre of the predominently pistillate plant (T. hybrida L.) 3-5 mm. high, 5-7 mm. broad; bracts paler, oblong, acute or obtusish; ray-flowers numerous, fertile; corolla tubular, 3 mm. long; style-branches oblong; disk-flowers few or sometimes wanting, similar to those of the hermaphrodite plant but smaller; achenes 1 mm. long, glabrous; pappus-bristles 2-3 mm. long.
Tvpf. locality: Germany.
Distribution: Massachusetts to Pennsylvania, escaped from cultivation; native of Europe and Asia.