Plantago afra (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Plantago afra L.

Protologue: Sp. pl. ed. 2: 168 (1762).

Synonyms

Plantago psyllium auct. non L. (1753).

Vernacular names

• Psyllium, black psyllium (En).

Distribution

Southern Europe, northern Africa, western Asia to Afghanistan and Pakistan; cultivated in India and locally introduced in South-East Asia as medicinal plant, e.g. in Thailand.

Uses

The mucilage obtained from the seeds is used as laxative.

Observations

• A small annual herb up to 50(-80) cm tall, with well developed erect to slightly ascending stems, upper part of stems with glandular hairs.
• Leaves opposite, linear-lanceolate to linear, 3-8 cm × 0.1-0.3(-0.4) cm, entire or distantly dentate, sparsely covered with short glandular hairs.
• Spike 0.5-1.5 cm long, dense, bracts ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, 3-8 mm long.
• Fruit about 2 mm long, 2-seeded.
• Seeds narrowly oblong or narrowly ellipsoidal, 2-3 mm long, smooth and reddish-brown.

P. afra occurs in dry, open and usually sandy locations.

Selected sources

• [193] Bruneton, J., 1995. Pharmacognosy, phytochemistry, medicinal plants. Technique & Documentation Lavoisier, Paris, France. 915 pp.
• [237] Chanprasert, W., Paisooksantivatana, Y., Lersrutaiyotin, R., Phoolkets, U., Satakhun, D. & Thapatat, Y., 1994. Effect of planting date, plant spacing, and harvesting date on seed yield and quality of Plantago psyllium L. Thai Journal of Phytopharmacy 1(2): 29-37.
• [287] Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, 1948-1976. The wealth of India: a dictionary of Indian raw materials & industrial products. 11 volumes. Publications and Information Directorate, New Delhi, India.
• [525] Gupta, R., 1990. Indian herbs and herbal raw material - time-tested remedies for all ailments. Indian Horticulture 34(4): 39-41.
• [549] Hänsel, R. et al. (Editors), 1992. Hagers Handbuch der Pharmazeutishe Praxis [Hagers handbook of the practice of pharmacology]. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Germany. 1209 pp.
• [1012] Nasir, E. & Ali, S.I. (Editors), 1970-1988. Flora of West Pakistan. No 1-188. Department of Botany, University of Karachi and National Herbarium, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, Islamabad, Pakistan.
• [1249] Rodriguez-Moran, M., Guerrero-Romero, F. & Laczano-Burciaga, C., 1998. Lipid- and glucose-lowering efficiacy of Plantago psyllium in type II diabetes. Journal of Diabetes and its Complications 12(5): 273-278.
• [1566] Wichtl, M. (Editor), 1994. Herbal drugs and phytopharmaceuticals. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, United States. 800 pp.

Main genus page

• Plantago (Medicinal plants)

Authors

• Lilis Pangemanan