Download PDF
Plantago
major L.
Standardized Common
Name: Plantain
Other Common Names: Broad-Leaf Plantain, Common Plantain
Family: Plantaginaceae
Taxonomy: The genus Plantago
includes over 200 species, distributed worldwide. Plantago major is
variable enough that some early authorities divided it into two to four
species, and numerous infraspecific forms were named. There are two widely
distributed subspecies: subsp. major probably makes up a sizeable
majority of the material used medicinally, while subsp. intermedia (DC.)
Arcangeli (also known as subsp. pleiosperma Pilger) is largely confined
to damp and often saline habitats.
Description: Perennial herb with
leaves in a basal rosette; multiple rosettes may be produced in plants over 1
year old. Leaves 5–30(–40) cm long, long-petioled; blade ovate to elliptical;
base subcordate to tapering; apex broadly acute to rounded; margins entire or
irregularly dentate to sinuate, especially near base; main veins (3–)5–9.
Inflorescences spicate, borne on basal scapes, 1–50 cm long, dense, bracteate.
Flowers green, 2–3 mm long; sepals 4; petals 4, fused, dry, pale; stamens 4,
basally fused to corolla, protruding much beyond corolla; ovary 2-locular.
Fruit a circumscissile capsule; seeds (4–)6–20(–34), 1.0–1.7 mm long.
Parts
in Commerce:
Leaves
Identification:
- Leaf blade ovate
to elliptical or broadly elliptical, 2–22 cm long
- Leaves
petiolate; petioles broad, flattened; petiole length sometimes equalling
or exceeding blade length
- Primary veins
arcuate (curving and running parallel from base to apex), usually 5–9 in
larger leaves, rarely 3, raised and pale on lower surface
- Base subcordate
to truncate, rounded or tapering
- Apex broadly
acute to obtuse, often with a rounded tip, to rounded
- Margins entire or
slightly wavy to irregularly dentate, especially near base, with teeth few
and usually shallow or rounded
- Hairs short,
pale, present mostly on lower surface, giving leaf a rough texture
- Fresh leaves
somewhat thick
- Taste
mucilaginous, salty, bitter or acrid
Plantago
lanceolata
L.:
Leaves of over half a dozen species of Plantago are used commercially in
the U.S. or Europe; after P. major, P. lanceolata (English
Plantain, also known as Narrow-Leaf Plantain) is one of the most common. Its
leaves, which are quite variable, are quite different from those of P. major:
- Leaves linear to
lanceolate, the blades to 25 cm long but 0.3–2.0(–4.0) cm broad
- Main veins 3 or
5, rarely 7
- Petiole narrow,
long or nearly absent, longitudinally ridged, sometimes sparsely pubescent
with very long soft hairs
- Base tapering
gradually into petiole
- Apex narrowly
acute, sometimes with a small abruptly narrowed point
- Margins usually
entire, occasionally with few minute inconspicuous teeth
- Pubescent with
long wispy hairs mostly confined to veins beneath, or glabrous, or softly
pubescent throughout
Digitalis
lanata Ehrh.: This weedy species,
which contains toxic cardiac glycosides, has been found as an adulterant of
cultivated P. lanceolata. It should be easily distinguished by the following
features:
- Most leaves sessile; basal leaves have short
petiole formed by tapering base, with wings of blade tissue, sometimes ciliate
- Venation pinnate with secondary veins
irregular and much weaker than midrib; midrib often purplish beneath
- Glabrous or sparsely pubescent,
smooth-textured; margins sometimes ciliate
- Both surfaces have a beaded, often glistening
appearance under high magnification
- Taste probably bitter
References:
Chater AO, Cartier D. Plantago. In: Tutin TG, Heywood VH, Burges NA, et al.,
eds. Flora Europaea. Vol. 4. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press; 1976:38–44.
Fernald ML. Gray’s Manual of Botany, 8th ed. New York: American Book
Company; 1950:1313–1318.
Lambinon J. Le problème de la variabilité de Plantago
major L. en Corse. Candollea. 1991;46:210–217.
Mølgaard P. Plantago major ssp. major
and ssp. pleiosperma. Morphology, biology and ecology in Denmark. Bot
Tidsskr. 1976;71:31–56.
Rahn K. Nomenclatorial changes within the genus Plantago
L., infraspecific taxa and subdivisions of the genus. Bot Tidsskr.
1978;73:106–111.
Rahn K. A phylogenetic study of the Plantaginaceae. Bot
J Linn Soc. 1996;120:145–198.
Wichtl M, ed. Herbal Drugs and
Phytopharmaceuticals, 3rd English
ed. Stuttgart: medpharm Scientific Publishers and Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press;
2004:456–459.
Figure 57: a, Plantago major leaf; b–c, P. lanceolata leaf and
close-up; d–e, Digitalis lanata leaf and close-up.
|