Where have all the coltsfoots gone?

A memory about coltsfoot. Just after the war, tobacco was in short supply, so my father, who smoked a pipe, decided to grow his own. H e obtained some seeds, and grew some tobacco plants, which had enormous floppy leaves.
He then decided to supplement these with coltsfoot leaves (also very big) which grew on our local railway embankment so we were despatched to gather a basketful. All the leaves were hung up until they were dry and brown, then soaked in a mixture of molasses and some sort of alcohol. They were then
rolled tightly into a "plug" and bound with twine and left to mature. Dad had learned to do this in the Navy in WW1. After some months he shredded the plug with a penknife and smoked it in his pipe - I remember it smelled quite aromatic and certainly better than cigarette smoke!

Coltsfoots (feet?) flowering along the canal towpath near Stourbridge (Black Country).

It is odd, I was thinking just the same thing the other day. I haven't seen any for years, not even in the areas where I saw them as a child. I didn't recognise the leaves in the picture above, but think the flowers probably came before leaves appeared.

Thanks Indinana - I wondered if it was something like that!

Your last sentence prompted me to try to find out, Gagagran, and I found this on Wiki: The leaves, which resemble a colt's foot in cross section..... Here's Wiki's accompanying photo.

I used to love coltsfoot rock as a child. You can buy it on-line but never see it in shops. Not that I go into sweet shops these days! Wonder why it's called coltsfoot?

I just say coltsfoot for both singular and plural but I am just clouding the issue.
I had not thought about it but agree I haven't seen any for years.

I know coltsfoots is right, just like mongooses but isn't there a little bit of us that wants to say coltsfeet and mongeese?

I didn't know what coltsfoot was. Just googled it. Will be on
the lookout now!

Plenty of coltsfoot in Argyll.

A good way to find out what's flowering where and when is to follow the Twitter hashtag #wildflowerhour. On Sunday evenings between 20:00 and 21:00 people posts pics of wildflowers they've seen that week and which part of the country they're in.

What a very good question. I haven't seen one since childhood. They are indeed lovely, as are celandines.