Ribwort Plantain

In April the brown flowers of Ribwort Plantain sit above the lanceolate leaves of this common native plant.

Species introduction

At a glance
Latin name: 
Plantago lanceolata
Family: 
Plantains
Family Latin name: 
PLANTAGINACEAE
Category: 
Flowering Plants
Vernacular names: 

Soldiers, Fighters, Fire-leaf, Fire-weed, Mother-die

Species description

Species description

The brown flowers from April sit above the lanceolate leaves of this common native plant. 

Mashed plantain leaves are effective for burns, cuts (they stem blood flow), haemorrhoids, insect bites and stings, and sunburn.  Plantain tea is taken for bronchitis, relieves sore throats and the symptoms of colds and flu, and also kidney and bowel disorders. 

Pick the stamens off a flower, make a wish, and keep the remainder of the flower under the pillow overnight.  If new stamens develop, the wish will come true. 

A game like conkers was played with the seed heads.  Each picks one with a long stem and takes it in turns to strike the other, to try and knock the seed head off.  This gave the plant the vernacular names soldiers and fighters. Also, tie the seed head in a knot and flick it to see whose seed head travels furthest.  Plantains are called 'mother-die', as this is what happens when they are taken indoors.

In John Lewis-Stempel's glorious book Meadowland, one reads that farmers used to judge whether a haystack would be likely to catch fire by feeling the leaves of Ribwort Plantain to see how much moisture was left in the hay. He also explains that pollen analysis has shown that Ribwort Plantain spread as Neolithic farming increased as the wild forest was cut back. He assumes that Neolithic farmers found the plant as useful as he does in determining when to mow grass for hay. "When the plantain head is good enough to play soldiers, the grass is good enough to cut", he wrote.

[As with most plants whose names end with the suffix 'wort' (from the Old English wyrt, meaning 'plant'), the first part of the word often indicated a medical or physical complaint—or part of the body—for which the use of the plant in some manner was supposed to be effective. In this instance, Ribwort Plantain's value in treating bronchitis complaints gave rise to its common name.]

Species photographs

Larger photograph(s) (click to magnify)
In April the brown flowers of Ribwort Plantain sit above the lanceolate leaves of this common native plant.
In April the brown flowers of Ribwort Plantain sit above the lanceolate leaves of this common native plant.
Mashed plantain leaves are effective for burns, cuts, haemorrhoids, insect bites and stings, and sunburn.
Here the pale yellow anthers of Ribwort Plantain have appeared in early May.

Details

Species family information

Many members have flat leaves that seem to lay on the ground, hence the derivation of the name from the Latin 'planta', sole of the foot. The flowers are on long, leafless stalks. The best known plantain is the banana.

Category information

Nucleic multicellular photosynthetic organisms lived in freshwater communities on land as long ago as a thousand million years, and their terrestrial descendants are known from the late Pre-Cambrian 850 million years ago. Embryophyte land plants are known from the mid Ordovician, and land plant structures such as roots and leaves are recognisable in mid Devonian fossils. Seeds seem to have evolved by the late Devonian. The Embryophytes are green land plants that form the bulk of the Earth’s vegetation. They have specialised reproductive organs and nurture the young embryo sporophyte. Most obtain their energy by photosynthesis, using sunlight to synthesise food from Carbon Dioxide and Water.

The earliest known plant group is the Archaeplastida, which were autotrophic. Listing just the surviving descendants, which evolved in turn, we have the Red Algae, the Chlorophyte Green Algae, the Charophyte Green Algae, and then the Embryophyta or land plants. The earliest embryophytes were the Liverworts, followed by the Hornworts, and the Mosses. Then we have the Vascular Plants, the Lycophytes and Ferns, followed by the Spermatophytes or seed plants, the Gnetophytes, Conifers, Ginkgos, and Cycads, and finally the Magnoliophyta (Angiosperms) or flowering plants.