Plantago lanceolata (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Plantago lanceolata L.

Protologue: Sp. pl. 1: 113 (1753).

• Buckhorn plantain, ribwort (En).
• Plantain lancéolé, herbe-à-cinq-côtes, bonne femme (Fr)
• Philippines: lanting-haba (Tagalog)
• Thailand: phak kaat nam, mo noi (Bangkok), yaa enyuet (northern).

Originally from Europe and western Asia, P. lanceolata is now cosmopolitan, including some tropical highland regions.

The leaves are applied to wounds, skin inflammations and sores. In India, the seeds are used with sugar as a purgative and haemostatic. The plant is also used in traditional medicine in India to treat headache.

• A small perennial herb up to 30(-60) cm tall, with a short thick rootstock.
• Leaves in several rosettes, narrowly lanceolate to linear-lanceolate or narrowly elliptical, (2-)10-25(-40) cm × (0.5-)1-3(-5) cm, entire or remotely and shallowly denticulate, subglabrous or appressed pubescent to villous.
• Spike 0.5-5(-8) cm long, very dense, bracts ovate, about 3 mm long.
• Fruit 3-4 mm long, 2-seeded.
• Seeds boat-shaped, about 2 mm long, smooth, brown.

P. lanceolata is extremely variable, but much of the variation reflects differences in habitat (e.g. hairy plants in more dry habitats). It is very local in eastern Java (Ijen plateau, in fields and roadsides at about 1500 m altitude) and the Philippines (Luzon, in gardens at about 2200 m altitude).

• [97] Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr, R.C., 1963-1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. Vol. 1 (1963) 647 pp., Vol. 2 (1965) 641 pp., Vol. 3 (1968) 761 pp.
• [193] Bruneton, J., 1995. Pharmacognosy, phytochemistry, medicinal plants. Technique & Documentation Lavoisier, Paris, France. 915 pp.
• [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.
• [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.
• [614] Holm, L.G., Plucknett, D.L., Pancho, J.V. & Herberger, J.P., 1977. The world's worst weeds. Distribution and biology. East-West Center, the University Press of Hawaii, Honolulu, United States. 609 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.
• [1178] Quisumbing, E., 1978. Medicinal plants of the Philippines. Katha Publishing Co., Quezon City, the Philippines. 1262 pp.
• [1403] Strzelecka, H., Glinkowska, G., Skopinska-Rozewska, E., Malkowska-Zwierz, W., Sikorska, E. & Sokolnicka, I., 1995. Immunotropic activity of plant extracts. I. Influence of water extracts of chosen crude drugs on humoral and cellular immune response. Herba Polonica 41(1): 23-32. (in Polish)
• [1565] Whittington, D.P. & Zehr, E.I., 1992. Populations of Criconemella xenoplax on peach interplanted with certain herbaceous plants. Journal of Nematology 24(4, Supplement): 688-692.
• [1566] Wichtl, M. (Editor), 1994. Herbal drugs and phytopharmaceuticals. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, United States. 800 pp.

• Plantago (Medicinal plants)

• Lilis Pangemanan