Plantago major

Plantago major
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Plantaginaceae
Genus: Plantago
Species: P. major
Binomial name
Plantago major
L.

Plantago major (broadleaf plantain, white man's foot, or greater plantain) is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae. The plant is native to most of Europe and northern and central Asia,[1][2][3] but has widely naturalised elsewhere in the world.[1][4][5][6][7]

Plantago major is one of the most abundant and widely distributed medicinal crops in the world. A poultice of the leaves can be applied to wounds, stings, and sores in order to facilitate healing and prevent infection. The active chemical constituents are aucubin (an anti-microbial agent), allantoin (which stimulates cellular growth and tissue regeneration), and mucilage (which reduces pain and discomfort). Plantain has astringent properties, and a tea made from the leaves can be ingested to treat diarrhea and soothe raw internal membranes.

Broadleaf plantain is also a highly nutritious wild edible, that is high in calcium and vitamins A, C, and K. The young, tender leaves can be eaten raw, and the older, stringier leaves can be boiled in stews and eaten.

Description

Plantago major is notable for its ability to colonize compacted and disturbed soils, and to survive repeated trampling.

Plantago major is an herbaceous perennial plant with a rosette of leaves 15–30 cm in diameter.[3][8]

Each leaf is oval-shaped, 5–20 cm long and 4–9 cm broad, rarely up to 30 cm long and 17 cm broad, with an acute apex and a smooth margin; there are five to nine conspicuous veins.[9] The flowers are small, greenish-brown with purple stamens, produced in a dense spike 5–15 cm long on top of a stem 13–15 cm tall (rarely to 70 cm tall).[3][8]

Plantain is wind-pollinated, and propagates primarily by seeds, which are held on the long, narrow spikes which rise well above the foliage.[8][10] Each plant can produce up to 20,000 seeds, which are very small and oval-shaped, with a bitter taste.[11]

There are three subspecies:[2]

Ecology

Developing fruits of Plantago major

Plantago major grows in lawns and fields, along roadsides, and in other areas that have been disturbed by humans. It does particularly well in compacted or disturbed soils. It is believed to be one of the first plants to reach North America after European colonisation. Reportedly brought to the Americas by Puritan colonizers, plantain was known among some Native American peoples by the common name "white man's footprint", because it thrived in the disturbed and damaged ecosystems surrounding European settlements.[12] The ability of plantain to survive frequent trampling and colonize compacted soils makes it important for soil rehabilitation. Its roots break up hardpan surfaces, while simultaneously holding together the soil to prevent erosion.[13]

The seeds of plantain are a common contaminant in cereal grain and other crop seeds. As a result, it now has a worldwide distribution as a naturalised species and often a weed.[4]

Edibility

The leaves are edible as a salad green when young and tender, but they quickly become tough and fibrous as they get older. The older leaves can be cooked in stews.[14] The leaves contain calcium and other minerals, with 100 grams of plantain containing approximately the same amount of vitamin A as a large carrot. The seeds are so small that they are tedious to gather, but they can be ground into a flour substitute or extender.[15]

Medicinal use

Plantain is found all over the world, and is one of the most abundant and accessible medicinal herbs.[16] It contains many bioactive compounds, including allantoin, aucubin, ursolic acid, flavonoids, and asperuloside.[17][18] Scientific studies have shown that plantain extract has a wide range of biological effects, including "wound healing activity, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antioxidant, weak antibiotic, immuno modulating and antiulcerogenic activity".[11]

For millennia, poultices of plantain leaves have been applied to wounds, sores, and stings to promote healing.[19] (The clown Costard cries out for a plantain after cutting his shin in Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost.)[20] The active constituents are the anti-microbial compound aucubin, the cell-growth promoter allantoin, a large amount of soothing mucilage, flavonoids, caffeic acid derivatives, and alcohols in the wax on the leaf surface. The root of plantain was also traditionally used to treat wounds, as well as to treat fever and respiratory infections.[21]

Due to its astringent properties, a tea of plantain leaves can be ingested to treat diarrhea or dysentery. Due to the high vitamin and mineral content, plantain tea simultaneously replenishes the nutrients lost as a result of diarrhea.[22] Adding fresh plantain seeds or flower heads to a tea will act as an effective lubricating and bulking laxative and soothe raw, sore throats.[23]

When ingested, the aucubin in plantain leaves leads to increased uric acid excretion from the kidneys, and may be useful in treating gout.[24]

Other uses

The sinews from the mature plant are very pliable and tough, and can be used in survival situations to make small cords, fishing line, sutures, or braiding.[25]

Cultivar 'Rubrifolia' of Plantago major

Some cultivars are planted as ornamentals in gardens, including 'Rubrifolia' with purple leaves, and 'Variegata' with variegated leaves.[26]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Plantago major.
Wikiversity has bloom time data for Plantago major on the Bloom Clock
  1. 1 2 Natural History Museum: Plantago major
  2. 1 2 Flora Europaea: Plantago major
  3. 1 2 3 Flora of Pakistan: Plantago major
  4. 1 2 Germplasm Resources Information Network: Plantago major
  5. ↑ As a result, Plantago major has many common names. In addition to "broadleaf plantain" and "greater plantain", other common names include: common plantain, broad-leaved plantain, cart track plant, dooryard plantain, greater plantago, healing blade, hen plant, lambs foot, roadweed, roundleaf plantain, snakeroot, waybread, wayside plantain, and white man's foot prints. -- Britton, Nathaniel Lord; Addison Brown (1913). An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Volume 3 (second ed.). Dover Publications, inc. p. 245.
  6. ↑ Joint Nature Conservation Committee: Greater Plantain Plantago major Linnaeus
  7. ↑ Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland Database
  8. 1 2 3 Blamey, M. & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). Flora of Britain and Northern Europe. ISBN 0-340-40170-2
  9. ↑ Parnell, J. and Curtis, T. 2012. Webb's An Irish Flora. Cork University Press. ISBN 978-185918-4783
  10. ↑ Sauer,Leslie Jones (1998). The Once and Future Forest. Island Press. p. 49. ISBN 1-55963-553-3.
  11. 1 2 Samuelsen, Anne Berit (July 2000). "The traditional uses, chemical constituents and biological activities of Plantago major L. A review". Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 77 (1-2): 1. doi:10.1016/S0378-8741(00)00212-9. ISSN 0378-8741.
  12. ↑ Duke, James (2001). Handbook of Edible Weeds. CRC Press. p. 150. ISBN 9780849329463.
  13. ↑ Tilford, Gregory L. & Gladstar, Rosemary (1998). From Earth to Herbalist: An Earth-Conscious Guide to Medicinal Plants. Mountain Press. p. 163. ISBN 9780878423729.
  14. ↑ Scott, Timothy Lee & Buhner, Steven Harrod (2010). Invasive Plant Medicine: The Ecological Benefits and Healing Abilities of Invasives. Inner Traditions / Bear & Co. p. 253. ISBN 9781594773051.
  15. ↑ Vizgirdas, Ray S. & Rey-Vizgirdas, Edna (2005). Wild Plants Of The Sierra Nevada. University of Nevada Press. pp. 148–149. ISBN 9780874175356.
  16. ↑ Green, James (2000). The Herbal Medicine Maker's Handbook: A Home Manual. Chelsea Green Publishing. pp. 314–315. ISBN 9780895949905.
  17. ↑ Duke, James A. (2001). "Plantago major". Handbook of Phytochemical Constituents of GRAS Herbs and Other Economic Plants. CRC Press. p. 471. ISBN 9780849338656.
  18. ↑ Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation (2005). A Guide to Medicinal Plants in North Africa. International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). p. 190. ISBN 9782831708935.
  19. ↑ Duke, James (2001). Handbook of Edible Weeds. CRC Press. p. 151. ISBN 9780849329463.
  20. ↑ William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost, (act III, sc. i), c.1595/95 (first quarto appearance, 1598), http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view.php?WorkID=loveslabours&Act=3&Scene=1&Scope=scene
  21. ↑ Foster, Steven & Hobbs, Christopher (2002). A Field Guide to Western Medicinal Plants and Herbs. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 224. ISBN 9780395838068.
  22. ↑ U.S. Department of Defense (June 1999). FM 21-76-1: Survival, Evasion, and Recovery: Multiservice Procedures (PDF). Air Land Sea Application Center. p. V-16.
  23. ↑ Tilford, Gregory L. & Gladstar, Rosemary (1998). From Earth to Herbalist: An Earth-Conscious Guide to Medicinal Plants. Mountain Press. p. 160. ISBN 9780878423729.
  24. ↑ Meuninck, Jim (2008). Medicinal Plants of North America: A Field Guide. Globe Pequot. p. 9. ISBN 9780762742981.
  25. ↑ Tilford, Gregory L. (1997). Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West. Mountain Press. p. 112. ISBN 9780878423590.
  26. ↑ Huxley, A., ed. (1992). New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. ISBN 0-333-47494-5

Further reading

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