Ribwort plantain  (Plantago lanceolata)

Learn about the scientific name of this species and how it fits into the tree of life at Nature Navigator.

Description

This common plantain has dark green, narrow lance-shaped leaves that form rosettes (2). The deep veins visible on the leaves have earned the species the name ‘ribwort’ (4). The blackish flower head is short and stubby and sits on top of a wiry stem (5). These flower heads are still used in a game akin to conkers, in which one flower head is matched against another, until the weakest of the two loses its head (6). This is reflected by a number of alternative names for the plant, including fighters, soldiers and hard-heads. The other names fire-weed or fire leaf refer to the fact that farmers used to judge whether a haystack would be likely to catch fire by feeling a leaf of ribwort plantain to see how much moisture was left in the hay (5).

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