Plantago maritima

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Plantago maritima
Plantago maritima v. juncoides3326.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Plantaginaceae
Genus: Plantago
Species:
P. maritima
Binomial name
Plantago maritima
L.
Synonyms [1]
  • Arnoglossum gramineumGray
  • Arnoglossum maritimum(L.) Gray
  • Plantaginella maritima(L.) Fourr.
  • Plantago juncoidesLam.
  • Plantago salsaPall.
  • Plantago serpentinaAll.

Plantago maritima, the sea plantain, seaside plantain or goose tongue, is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae. It has a subcosmopolitan distribution in temperate and Arctic regions, native to most of Europe, northwest Africa, northern and central Asia, northern North America, and southern South America. [2] [3]

Contents

Description

It is a herbaceous perennial plant with a dense rosette of leaves without petioles. Each leaf is linear, 2–22 cm long and under 1 cm broad, thick and fleshy-textured, with an acute apex and a smooth or distantly toothed margin; there are three to five veins. The flowers are small, greenish-brown with brown stamens, produced in a dense spike 0.5–10 cm long on top of a stem 3–20 cm tall. [4] [5] [6]

Subspecies

There are four subspecies: [3] [6]

Ecology and physiology

In much of the range it is strictly coastal, growing on sandy soils. In some areas, it also occurs in alpine habitats, along mountain streams. [4] Some of the physiology and metabolism of this species has been described, of particular note is how the metabolism of this species is altered with elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. [7] [8]

Uses

Like samphires, the leaves of the plant are harvested to be eaten raw or cooked. [9] [10] The seeds are also eaten raw or cooked, and can be ground into flour. [9]

Related Research Articles

<i>Plantago</i> Genus of flowering plants in the plantain family Plantaginaceae

Plantago is a genus of about 200 species of flowering plants in the family Plantaginaceae, commonly called plantains or fleaworts. The common name plantain is shared with the unrelated cooking plantain. Most are herbaceous plants, though a few are subshrubs growing to 60 centimetres tall.

<i>Chenopodium album</i> Species of flowering plant in the goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae

Chenopodium album is a fast-growing weedy annual plant in the genus Chenopodium. Though cultivated in some regions, the plant is elsewhere considered a weed. Common names include lamb's quarters, melde, goosefoot, wild spinach and fat-hen, though the latter two are also applied to other species of the genus Chenopodium, for which reason it is often distinguished as white goosefoot. Chenopodium album is extensively cultivated and consumed in Northern India, Nepal, and Pakistan as a food crop known as bathua.

<i>Alisma plantago-aquatica</i> Species of plant

Alisma plantago-aquatica, also known as European water-plantain, common water-plantain or mad-dog weed, is a perennial flowering aquatic plant widespread across most of Europe and Asia, and apparently spread elsewhere in both the Old and New World.

<i>Alisma</i> Genus of aquatic plants

Alisma is a genus of flowering plants in the family Alismataceae, members of which are commonly known as water-plantains. The genus consists of aquatic plants with leaves either floating or submerged, found in a variety of still water habitats around the world. The flowers are hermaphrodite, and are arranged in panicles, racemes, or umbels. Alisma flowers have six stamens, numerous free carpels in a single whorl, each with 1 ovule, and subventral styles. The fruit is an achene with a short beak.

<i>Batis</i> (plant) Genus of plants

Batis is a genus of two species of flowering plants, the only genus in the family Bataceae. They are halophytic plants, native to the coastal salt marshes of warm temperate and tropical America and tropical Australasia.

<i>Arctostaphylos uva-ursi</i> Species of fruit and plant

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi is a plant species of the genus Arctostaphylos widely distributed across circumboreal regions of the subarctic Northern Hemisphere. Kinnikinnick is a common name in Canada and the United States. Growing up to 30 centimetres in height, the leaves are evergreen. The flowers are white to pink and the fruit is a red berry.

<i>Plantago lanceolata</i> Species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae

Plantago lanceolata is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae. It is known by the common names ribwort plantain, narrowleaf plantain, English plantain, ribleaf, lamb's tongue, and buckhorn. It is a common weed on cultivated or disturbed land.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golden samphire</span> Species of flowering plant

The golden samphire is a perennial coastal species, which may be found growing on salt marsh or sea cliffs across western and southern Europe and the Mediterranean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sea beet</span>

The sea beet, Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima, is a member of the family Amaranthaceae, previously of the Chenopodiaceae. Carl Linnaeus first described Beta vulgaris in 1753; in the second edition of Species Plantarum in 1762, he divided the species into wild and cultivated varieties, giving the name Beta maritima to the wild taxon. The sea beet is native to the coasts of Europe, northern Africa, and southern Asia.

<i>Lobularia maritima</i> Species of flowering plant

Lobularia maritima is a species of low-growing flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae. Its common name is sweet alyssum or sweet alison, also commonly referred to as just alyssum.

<i>Plantago major</i> Species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae

Plantago major, the broadleaf plantain, white man's footprint, waybread, or greater plantain, is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae. The plant is native to Eurasia.

<i>Armeria maritima</i> Flowering plant in the family Plumbaginaceae

Armeria maritima, the thrift, sea thrift or sea pink, is a species of flowering plant in the family Plumbaginaceae. It is a compact evergreen perennial which grows in low clumps and sends up long stems that support globes of bright pink flowers. In some cases purple, white or red flowers also occur. It is a popular garden flower and has been distributed worldwide as a garden and cut flower. It does well in gardens designed as xeriscapes or rock gardens. The Latin specific epithet maritima means pertaining to the sea or coastal.

<i>Mentha arvensis</i> Species of flowering plant

Mentha arvensis, the corn mint, field mint, or wild mint, is a species of flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae. It has a circumboreal distribution, being native to the temperate regions of Europe and western and central Asia, east to the Himalaya and eastern Siberia, and North America. Mentha canadensis, the related species, is also included in Mentha arvensis by some authors as two varieties, M. arvensis var. glabrata Fernald and M. arvensis var. piperascens Malinv. ex L. H. Bailey.

<i>Plantago media</i> Species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae

Plantago media, known as the hoary plantain, is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae. It is native to central and western Europe, including Great Britain and introduced to parts of the north-east United States. Its generic name is derived from the Latin for sole; like other members of the genus Plantago, it should not be confused with the unrelated plantain, a starchy banana.

<i>Dactylis glomerata</i> Species of grass

Dactylis glomerata is a species of flowering plant in the grass family Poaceae, commonly known as cock's-foot, orchard grass, or cat grass (due to its popularity for use with domestic cats). It is a cool-season perennial C3 bunchgrass native throughout most of Europe, temperate Asia, and northern Africa.

<i>Vaccinium uliginosum</i> Berry and plant

Vaccinium uliginosum is a Eurasian and North American flowering plant in the genus Vaccinium within the heath family.

<i>Cakile maritima</i> Species of plant

Cakile maritima, sea rocket or European searocket, is a common plant in the mustard family Brassicaceae. It is widespread in Europe, North Africa and western Asia, especially on coastlines. It can now be found in many other areas of the world where it has been introduced. It is present on the west and east coasts of North America, where it has the potential to become an invasive species. This is an annual plant which grows in clumps or mounds in the sand on beaches and bluffs. The shiny leaves are fleshy, green and tinted with purple or magenta, and long-lobed. It has white to light purple flowers and sculpted, segmented, corky brown fruits one to three centimetres long. The fruits float and are water-dispersed.

<i>Tephroseris palustris</i> Species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae

Tephroseris palustris, also known by its common names swamp ragwort, northern swamp groundsel, marsh fleabane, marsh fleawort, clustered marsh ragwort and mastodon flower, a herbaceous species of the family Asteraceae. It can be seen most easily when its bright yellow umbel flowers appear from May to early July standing 3 to 4 feet along marshes, stream banks and slough areas where it likes to grow.

<i>Plantago indica</i> Species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae

Plantago indica, commonly known as branched plantain, sand plantain, or black psyllium, is a flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae, and is one of a few species in the Plantago genus under the common name psyllium. The plant is native to parts of Africa, Europe, Russia, and Asia, and has been naturalized in many other areas such as Australia and North America. The plant can be found mostly in dry inland areas, such as those that are sandy, and has also naturalized on roadsides and in meadows. The plant is not used broadly as a food source, but has been cultivated for its seeds which serve a medicinal use as a laxative.

<i>Plantago tweedyi</i> Species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae

Plantago tweedyi, Tweedy's plantain, is a perennial herb in the plantain family. It is native to the western United States, from New Mexico and Arizona north to Montana.

References

  1. The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species , retrieved 9 November 2016
  2. "Plantago maritima". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  3. 1 2 Flora Europaea: Plantago maritima
  4. 1 2 Blamey, M. & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). Flora of Britain and Northern Europe. ISBN   0-340-40170-2
  5. Plants of British Columbia: Plantago maritima
  6. 1 2 3 Flora of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago: Plantago maritima
  7. Davey, M. P.; Harmens, H.; Ashenden, T. W.; Edwards, R.; Baxter, R. (2007). "Species-specific effects of elevated CO2 on resource allocation in Plantago maritima and Armeria maritima". Biochemical Systematics and Ecology. 35 (3): 121. doi:10.1016/j.bse.2006.09.004.
  8. Davey, M.; Bryant, D. N.; Cummins, I.; Ashenden, T. W.; Gates, P.; Baxter, R.; Edwards, R. (2004). "Effects of elevated CO2 on the vasculature and phenolic secondary metabolism of Plantago maritima". Phytochemistry. 65 (15): 2197–2204. Bibcode:2004PChem..65.2197D. doi:10.1016/j.phytochem.2004.06.016. PMID   15587703.
  9. 1 2 Plants for a Future , retrieved 9 November 2016
  10. Seymour, Tom, Foraging New England: Edible wild food and medicinal plants from Maine to the Adirondacks to Long Island Sound, 2nd ed. (Guilford, Connecticut: Morris Book Publishing, 2013), pp. 2-4. See also: Seymour, Tom (June 2009), "Free Lunch: Foraging the Maine Seashore," Fishermen's Voice (Gouldsboro, Maine, U.S.A.).