01.
Plantain: A Bit of Botany
a little botanical information on plantain
description
Plantago major is an herbaceous perennial plant of the Plantaginaceae family
with a rosette of leaves 15–30 cm in diameter. Each leaf is oval-shaped, 5–20 cm long and 4–9 cm broad; it rarely reaches up to 30 cm long
and 17 cm broad. The leaves have an acute apex and a smooth margin; there are five to nine
conspicuous veins. The plantain's flowers are small, greenish-brown with purple stamens and are
clustered in a dense spike 5–15 cm long on top of a stem averaging 13–15 cm tall (rarely to
70 cm tall).
Plantain is wind-pollinated and the plant propagates primarily by seed.
These seeds grow on long, narrow spikes which rise well above the foliage. Each
plant can produce up to 20,000 of its very small, oval-shaped, and bitter seeds.
common names & nomenclature
Puritan colonizers reportedly brought plantain to the Americas where it thrived in the disturbed and damaged ecosystems
surrounding European settlements. As such it was known among some Native American peoples by the common name "white man's
footprint".
Also known as:
greater plantain, broadleaf plantain, englishman's foot, ripple grass, snakeweed