Hi folks, This one is big (like, the size of two fists), all over a corner of my back yard in Cumberland, BC, and seems to be growing up from some pretty thick rhizome-like structures. It poked up in February when there was still snow on the ground, but hasn't grown a lot since then. The outer disc just looks like fancy bracts, but they inner "inflorescence" looks pretty fertile. It's vaguely reminiscent of an aster or Petasites, but also not at all! I can't even tell you what family it is! I have a weird feeling that it's from Asia, since Cumberland has a lot of history as a location with a large Chinatown, and then a Japanese internment camp.
It is Petasites sp. Looks like petasites japonicus. ...common name Butterbur. petasites japonicus flowers - Google Search Petasites japonicus - Wikipedia
That sure does look like it! Sounds like my suspicions re: Petasites and Asia were pretty accurate :) Thank you so much!
Interesting how the presence of plants can echo the human history of a site many years later. Do any physical structures remain from the those times?
Very interesting! It sounds like most of Chinatown was built on wooden platforms above a marsh, and burned to the ground in 1964. Not so, the plants... there's a bit of knotweed and an old orchard, too. My place was built in 1901, and I'm very curious about how long the P. japonicus has been there!
