Common Names
Golden ragwort, butterweed, cocashweed, coughweed, false valerian, female regulator, golden groundsel, golden senecio, groundsel, liferoot, ragwort, squawweed, swamp squawweed, uncum, waxweed, wild valerian.

Description
A perennial that grows to 1 to 2 12 feet in height, with 1 to several erect flowering stems. The slender basal leaves are heart-shaped and long petioled (to 6 inches); the rest of the stem leaves are variously cleft, with lobes arranged on either side of the main mid-vein of the leaf. The spring-blooming composite flowers are yellow. The roots are characterized by horizontal creeping.

Flowering Period
March to June.

Habitat
Rich calcareous woods and bottoms, upland swamps, and humid areas.

Harvest
Root; herb in May when flowering; entire plant before flowering.

Uses
As the common name, “coughweed”, would indicate, the herb is an expectorant and pectoral. In addition to these qualities, it is listed as an emmenagogue and vulnerary.