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Facts about Narrow leaf plantain

Facts about Narrow leaf plantain

Narrow leaf plantain Quick Facts
Name: Narrow leaf plantain
Scientific Name: Plantago lanceolata
Origin Northern Africa, the Azores, the Canary Islands, Europe, western and central Asia and the Indian Sub-continent
Colors Green when young turning to Brown
Shapes 3–4 mm (0.12–0.16 in.) long ellipsoidal capsule each containing two seeds
Taste Slightly salty and faintly bitter taste
Calories 28 Kcal./cup
Major nutrients Iron (48.88%)
Calcium (30.40%)
Manganese (28.74%)
Copper (17.67%)
Vitamin C (15.11%)
Plantago lanceolata also known as narrow leaved plantain, English plantain, Buckhorn plantain and ribwort plantain, is an erect cool-season perennial plant that is a member of the plantain family (Plantaginaceae). Generally, plantains are categorized under two groups, narrow leaf and broad leaf. The plant is native to northern Africa (i.e. Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia), the Azores, the Canary Islands, Europe, western and central Asia and the Indian Sub-continent (i.e. northern India, Nepal and Pakistan). It is known by the common names black jack, black plantain, buckhorn, buckhorn plantain, buckhorn ribgrass, common plantain, English plantain, German psyllium, hen plant, jackstraw, lamb’s tongue, lamb’s tongues, lance leaf plantain, lance leaved plantain, long plantain, narrow leaf ribwort, narrow leaved plantain, narrow-leaved plantain, plantain, rat tail, rat-tail plantain, rib grass, rib-grass, ribwort, ribwort plantain, ripple grass, small plantain, snake plantain and wild sago. It is a common weed of cultivated land.

The genus name Plantago, derived from Latin “planta” (= foot sole, foot face) with the common suffix of plants “ago” refers in part to the flat, oval leaves of the plantain (P. major) lying closely on the ground in rosettes, on the other hand that the plantain is formed by being compressed by feet. The long-lanceolate and typical parallel leaves of the plantain are referred to in the epithet lanceolate (from the Latin “lanceolata” = small lance).

Plant Description

Narrow leaf plantain is a small stem less glabrous to pubescent, rosette-forming, herbaceous and perennial herb, 20 to 80 cm high. The plant is found growing in grass and heath land, riparian habitats, freshwater wetlands, coastal dunes, fields, lawns, meadows, roadsides, waste ground, parks and even sand dunes, disturbed areas, open woodlands, grasslands, cracks in pavement, vacant lots, fallow fields, grassy paths, beside railway tracks and harbors. The plant prefers moderately fertile soil and also thrives in very poor land. The plant has a thick rhizome and fibrous roots. Flowering stems are grooved and covered to varying degrees in short hairs pressed close to the stem (appressed), especially towards the base.

Leaves

This herbaceous perennial plant consists of a rosette of basal leaves and one or more flowering stalks. The basal leaves are up to 10 inches long and ¾ inches wide, but more commonly about half this size. They are linear-elliptic and smooth along their margins, being broadest toward the middle and tapering toward their tips and the base of the rosette. There are 3-5 parallel veins along the length of each leaf. Leaves are gray-green to green and glabrous to sparsely hairy. There are usually a few hairs along the central vein on the underside of each leaf.

Flower

Inconspicuous flowers are densely packed in a cylindrical spike ½ to 3 inches long and about 1/3 inch wide, at the end of a long naked stem. The flowers open in a ring around the spike, starting at the bottom and progressing upwards, the stamens’ long filaments and large white tips (anthers) extended out about as far as the central column is wide. Spent flowers, sepals and bracts below the blooms are papery brown; buds above the blooms are gray-green. Rarely a spike contains only pistillate (female) flowers. Flowering normally takes place from April to August.

Fruit

Each flower is replaced by a small seed capsule that is ovoid or oblongoid; it splits cleanly and evenly in the lower half to release 2 small seeds. Fruits are initially green turning to brown as they mature. Each seed is oblongoid, dark brown or black, 2-3 mm long and mucilaginous when wet and strongly depressed on one side. This plant spreads mostly by reseeding itself. The mass of 1000 seeds is 1-1.5 g.

Its mucilaginous seeds are used as a thickener in the cosmetics and ice-cream industries and as a gelling agent for tissue culture (cheaper than agar-agar). It may be grown as fodder and is considered to be of better quality than Plantago major.

History

Theophrastus, in the third century BC, cites the narrow leaf plantain among the wild vegetables sprouting in spring. Apart from describing many medicinal applications of the leaves and roots of both species, Dioscorides mentioned their consumption as cooked vegetables, with lentils. Some of these medicinal prescriptions include the consumption of the cooked leaves, being therefore described as a medicinal food.

Traditional uses and benefits of Narrow Leaf Plantain

Ayurvedic benefits of Narrow leaf Plantain herb

Culinary Uses

Other Facts

References:

https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=32874#null

https://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2054/

http://www.hear.org/pier/species/plantago_lanceolata.htm

https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxonomydetail.aspx?id=28787

https://pfaf.org/user/plant.aspx?LatinName=Plantago+lanceolata

https://www.cabi.org/ISC/datasheet/41813

http://www.floracatalana.net/plantago-lanceolata-l-

https://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/p/plarib48.html

https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=plla

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantago_lanceolata

http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/kew-2569834

https://www.washcoll.edu/live/profiles/13367-plantago-lanceolata-narrow-leaf-plantain

http://utbfc.utk.edu/Content%20Folders/Forages/Weed%20Management/Publications/W322.pdf

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