Plantago lanceolata

Plantago lanceolata L., Sp. Pl. 113 1753. (syn: Arnoglossum lanceolatum (L.) S.F.Gray; Lagopus lanceolatus (L.) Fourr.; Lagopus timbali Fourr.; Plantago abyssinica Hochst. ex A.Br.; Plantago ambigua Guss.; Plantago argentea Brot.; Plantago attenuata Wall.; Plantago azorica Hochst. ex Seub.; Plantago byzantina C.Koch; Plantago capensis Boj.; Plantago capitata Ten.; Plantago contorta Guss.; Plantago dalmatica Schott ex Steud.; Plantago decumbens Rchb.; Plantago dubia L.; Plantago elata Schur; Plantago eriophora Hoffmgg. & Link; Plantago flexuosa Gaud. ex Rapin; Plantago fontiscurvae Kom.; Plantago gerardi Pourr.; Plantago glabriflora Sakalo; Plantago glareosa A.Kerner; Plantago hirsuta Mazziari; Plantago hungarica Waldst. & Kit.; Plantago intermedia C.Koch; Plantago irrigua Fisch. ex Reichb.; Plantago japonica var. yezomaritima (Koidz.) H.Hara; Plantago kurdica Vatke; Plantago lanata Host; Plantago lanceifolia Salisb.; Plantago lanceolata var. capitata (Ten.) Cout.; Plantago lanceolata subsp. communis (Schltdl.) Pottier-Alapetite; Plantago lanceolata var. contigua Menezes; Plantago lanceolata var. eriophora (Hoffmanns. & Link) Cout.; Plantago lanceolata subsp. eriophora (Hoffmgg. & Link) Soo; Plantago lanceolata subsp. lanuginosa (Bast.) Arcangeli; Plantago lanceolata var. lanuginosa (Bast.) Mert. & W.D.J.Koch; Plantago lanceolata var. mediterranea (Strobl) Pilg.; Plantago lanceolata var. sphaerostachya Mert. & Koch; Plantago lanceolata var. timbalii (Jord.) Gaut.; Plantago lanuginosa Bastard; Plantago linkii Roem. & Schult.; Plantago longiscapa Mazziari; Plantago longistipes Royle ex Barn.; Plantago major f. yezomaritima (Koidz.) Ohwi; Plantago mediterranea Strobl; Plantago microcephala Royle ex Barn.; Plantago minor Garsault; Plantago nigricans Link ex Reichb.; Plantago nutans Poir.; Plantago preslii Ten.; Plantago pseudo-patagonica Vatke; Plantago schottii Roem. & Schult.; Plantago sphaerostachya (Mert. & Koch) A.Kerner; Plantago sylvatica H.Mart.; Plantago timbalii Jord.; Plantago tomentosa Gilib.; Plantago trinervis Mazziari; Plantago variabilis Link ex Barn.; Plantago yezomaritima Koidz.);

Azores (Santa Maria Isl., Sao Miguel Isl., Terceira, Graciosa, Sao Jorge, Pico, Faial, Flores Isl., Corvo Isl.), Madeira (Madeira Isl., Ilhas Desertas, Porto Santo Isl.), Canary Isl. (Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Hierro), Austria, Belgium, England, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Denmark, Faeroe Isl., Finland, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, Netherlands, Hungary, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, W-, C-, N- & E-European Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Portugal, Spain, Andorra, Baleares, France, Corsica, Sardinia, Malta, Sicily, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Hercegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece (incl. Kiklades), Crete, East Aegaean Isl., Rhodos, Crimea, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Northern Caucasus, Georgia [Caucasus], Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Siberia (W-Siberia, C-Siberia) (I), Russian Far East (I), Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Japan (I), China (Gansu, Henan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Liaoning, Shandong, Xinjiang, Yunnan, Zhejiang), Taiwan, Korea (I), Costa Rica(I), Australia (I) (Western Australia (I), Northern Territory (I), South Australia (I), Queensland (I), New South Wales (I), Victoria (I), Tasmania (I)), Auckland Isl. (I), Marion Isl. (I), Falkland Isl. (I), Tristan da Cunha (I), Gough Isl. (I), Java, New Guinea (alpine), NW-India, N-India, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka (I), Philippines (I), Bahamas (I), Cuba (I), Hispaniola (I), Jamaica (I), Lesser Antilles (I) (Guadeloupe (I), Martinique (I), Montserrat (I)), Puerto Rico (I), Mexico (I) (widespread), Bolivia (I), Panama (I), Peru (I), South Africa (I) (widespread), Namibia (I), Lesotho (I), Botswana (I), Zimbabwe (I), Djibouti (I), Sudan (I), trop. Africa (I), New Zealand (I), Chatham Isl. (I), New Caledonia (I), Lord Howe Isl. (I), Norfolk Isl. (I), French Guiana (I), Ecuador (I), Uruguay (I), Chile (I), Juan Fdz. Isl. (I), Argentina (I), Venezuela (I), Colombia (I), Niue (I), Society Isl. (I) (Tahiti (I)), Tonga (I) (Tongatapu (I)), Austral Isl. (I) (Tubuai (I)), Mauritius (I), La Runion (I), Rodrigues (I), Madagascar (I), Turkey (E-Anatolia, Inner Anatolia, N-Anatolia, NE-Anatolia, NW-Anatolia: Bithynia, S-Anatolia, SE-Anatolia, SSW-Anatolia, SW-Anatolia, W-Anatolia, WN-Anatolia), Cyprus (C-Mountains, N-Cyprus, W-Cyprus), Egypt (Nile Delta), European Turkey, Iran (EC-Iran, E-Iran, NE-Iran: Mts., N-Iran, Iranian Aserbaijan, S-Iran, W-Iran), Iraq (NE-Iraq, NW-Iraq, SE-Iraq: Mesopotamia), Israel (coastal W-Israel, Rift Valley, N-Israel), Jordania (S-Jordania, W-Jordania), Lebanon (Antilebanon, C-Lebanon, coastal W-Lebanon), Saudi Arabia (C-Saudi Arabia, NE-Saudi Arabia, Asir, Nejd Desert), Qatar, Syria (NW-Syria, W-Syrian Mountains), Yemen (N-Inner Yemen, Tihama, W-Yemen), Afghanistan (Badakshan, Badghys, Bamyan, Faryab, Ghazni, Ghorat, Herat, Kabul, Kandahar, Kunar / Nuristan, Parwan, Qunduz, Takhar), Pakistan (widespread), Pakistani Kashmir, Jammu & Kashmir, Hawaii (I) (Midway Isl. (I), French Frigate Shoals (I), Kauai (I), Oahu (I), Molokai (I), Lanai (I), Maui (I), Hawaii Isl. (I)), Alaska (I), USA (I) (Alabama (I), Arkansas (I), Arizona (I), California (I), Colorado (I), Connecticut (I), District of Columbia (I), Delaware (I), Florida (I), Georgia (I), Iowa (I), Idaho (I), Illinois (I), Indiana (I), Kansas (I), Kentucky (I), Louisiana (I), Massachusetts (I), Maryland (I), Maine (I), Michigan (I), Minnesota (I), Missouri (I), Mississippi (I), Montana (I), North Carolina (I), North Dakota (I), Nebraska (I), New Hampshire (I), New Jersey (I), New Mexico (I), Nevada (I), New York (I), Ohio (I), Oklahoma (I), Oregon (I), Pennsylvania (I), Rhode Island (I), South Carolina (I), South Dakota (I), Tennessee (I), Texas (I), Utah (I), Virginia (I), Vermont (I), Washington State (I), Wisconsin (I), West Virginia (I), Wyoming (I)), Canada (I) (Alberta (I), British Columbia (I), Manitoba (I), New Brunswick (I), Newfoundland (I), Nova Scotia (I), Ontario (I), Prince Edward Isl. (I), Quebec (I), Saskatchewan (I)), Greenland (I), St. Pierre et Miquelon (I) as per Catalogue of Life;

Buckhorn, Buckhorn plantain, English plantain, Ribgrass, Ribwort, Ribwort plantain; Hindi: Baltanga;

Perennial herbs, taproot long and thick. Leaves basal, glabrous or pubescent; petiole tenuous, 2-10 cm; leaf blade linear-lanceolate, lanceolate, or elliptic-lanceolate, 6-20 × 0.5-4.5 cm, papery, veins (3 or)5(or 7), base narrowly cuneate and decurrent onto petiole, margin entire or remotely denticulate, apex acuminate to acute. Spikes conic-ovoid at first but later capitate to shortly cylindric, 1-5(-8) cm, densely flowered; peduncle 10-60 cm, 5-sulcate, appressed pubescent; bracts ovate to elliptic, 3.5-5 mm, densely hirsute, keel spatulate, apex scarious and caudate. Sepals 2-3.5 mm, abaxially usually hirsute, keel narrow and not extending to apex; lower sepals connate to near apex, broadly obovate, 2-keeled, margin with sparse trichomes; upper sepals distinct, broadly ovate. Corolla white, glabrous; lobes ovate-lanceolate, 1.5-3 mm, patent to reflexed, apex shortly acuminate. Stamens adnate to near middle of corolla tube, exserted; anthers white or yellowish, ellipsoid, 2.5-3 mm. Pyxis narrowly ovoid, 3-4 mm, circumscissile near base; seeds 1 or 2, brown to dark brown, narrowly ellipsoid to oblong, 2-2.6 mm, shiny, with a broad groove on ventral face.

Flowering and fruiting: May-August

Grasslands and roadsides in the high ranges

Native of South America

(From India Biodiversity Portal

Attributions- Dr. N Sasidharan (Dr. B P Pal Fellow), Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi )

Plantago lanceolata is a species of genus Plantago known by the common names ribwort plantain, English plantain, buckhorn plantain, narrowleaf plantain, ribleaf and lamb’s tongue. It is a common weed of cultivated land.

The plant is a rosette-forming perennial herb, with leafless, silky, hairy flower stems (10–40 cm or 3.9–16 in). The basal leaves are lanceolate spreading or erect, scarcely toothed with 3-5 strong parallel veins narrowed to short petiole. Grouping leaf stalk deeply furrowed, ending in an oblong inflorescence of many small flowers each with a pointed bract. Each flower can produce up to two seeds. Flowers 4 mm (calyx green, corolla brownish), 4 bent back lobes with brown midribs, long white stamens.

Found in British Isles, scarce on acidic soils (pH < 4.5). It is considered an invasive weed in North America. It is present and widespread in the Americas and Australia as an introduced species.

P. lanceolata is used frequently in tisanes and other herbal remedies.^[2] A tea from the leaves is used as a highly effective cough medicine.^{[citation needed]} In the traditional Austrian medicine Plantago lanceolata leaves have been used internally (as syrup or tea) or externally (fresh leaves) for treatment of disorders of the respiratory tract, skin, insect bites, and infections.^[3]

(From Wikipedia on 22.8.13)

Europe, including Britain, from Iceland south and east to Spain, northern and central Asia

Young leaves – raw or cooked[12, 46, 61]. They are rather bitter and very tedious to prepare, the fibrous strands are best removed prior to eating[9, 183]. The very young leaves are somewhat better and are less fibrous[K]. Seed – cooked. Used like sago[177, 183]. The seed can be ground into a powder and added to flours when making bread, cakes or whatever.

Ribwort plantain is a safe and effective treatment for bleeding, it quickly staunches blood flow and encourages the repair of damaged tissue[254]. The leaves contain mucilage, tannin and silic acid[244]. An extract of them has antibacterial properties[240]. They have a bitter flavour and are astringent, demulcent, mildly expectorant, haemostatic and ophthalmic[9, 13, 21, 145, 165, 222, 244, 254]. Internally, they are used in the treatment of a wide range of complaints including diarrhoea, gastritis, peptic ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome, haemorrhage, haemorrhoids, cystitis, bronchitis, catarrh, sinusitis, asthma and hay fever[238, 254]. They are used externally in treating skin inflammations, malignant ulcers, cuts, stings etc[4]. The heated leaves are used as a wet dressing for wounds, swellings etc[213, 222]. The root is a remedy for the bite of rattlesnakes, it is used in equal portions with Marrubium vulgare[207]. The seeds are used in the treatment of parasitic worms[213]. Plantain seeds contain up to 30% mucilage which swells up in the gut, acting as a bulk laxative and soothing irritated membranes[238]. Sometimes the seed husks are used without the seeds[238]. A distilled water made from the plant makes an excellent eye lotion[7].

(From PFAF)
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