About Petasites japonicus (Siebold & Zucc.) Maxim.
Petasites japonicus, commonly called butterbur, giant butterbur, great butterbur, fuki, and sweet-coltsfoot, is an herbaceous perennial plant in the daisy family (Asteraceae). It is native to China, Japan, Korea, and Sakhalin, and has been introduced to Europe and North America. Japanese migrants brought the species to southern British Columbia, Canada, after its introduction to the continent. This species is typically dioecious: male and female flowers develop on separate individual plants. Rarely, it produces morphologically hermaphroditic flowers that are functionally sterile. Like other species in the Petasites genus, fuki contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs), compounds linked to cumulative liver damage and tumor development. It also contains petasitenine, a carcinogenic pyrrolizidine alkaloid. Proper extraction processing can reduce the concentration of these hepatotoxic PAs to levels below detection limits. Because many alkaloids have a bitter taste, traditional preparation methods for this plant may have developed specifically to remove these compounds.
