Butterbur

Petasites hybridus

A few weeks ago I blipped White Butterbur, Petasites albus.
Here is its much larger relative which is doing well this year.

It is one of those plants which send up the flower spikes before the leaves. My guess about why this happens is that the leaves become so large that they would hide the flowers from passing pollinators.
As I am sure I have said before the enormous rhubarb shaped leaves can fold without cracking or splitting which is why in former times they were used for wrapping large chunks of butter.