Strange plants

On our walk along the River Lathkill in Derbyshire a few days ago (unnavigable, unless you're a fish) we came across these plants in some boggy land at the river's edge.


I don't recall seeing anything like them before. The stem looks fungus-like, but the flowers don't. Any ideas, anyone?

Update: A.P. has identified this as butterbur, which I had not heard of. From Wikipedia:

The plants commonly referred to as Butterbur

are found in the daisy family Asteraceae in the

genus Petasites. They are mostly quite robust

plants with thick, creeping underground

rhizomes and large Rhubarb-like leaves during

the growing season. Another common name for

many species of this genus is Sweet Coltsfoot.

It goes on to say,

"The short spikes of flowers are produced just before the leaves in spring, emerging with only a few elongated basal bracts and are usually green, flesh coloured or dull white depending on species. Butterburs ... prefer moist environments such as riverbanks, marshes and ditches."

So now I know.