Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

RIBWORT

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Plantago lanceolata L.

Douglas County, Kansas

Biennial or perennial

Height: 8-28 inches

Family: Plantaginaceae - Plantain Family

Flowering Period: May, June, July, August, September,October

Also Called:

European plantain, ribgrass.

Stems:

Stems absent or essentially so. Plants glabrous to sparsely hairy, green

Leaves:

Basal; blades oblanceolate to narrowly elliptic or linear, 3 to 12 inches long, .3 to 1.8 inch wide, margins entire or shallowly serrate, tip acute or attenuate.

Inflorescences:

Terminal spikes, short-cylindric to conic, 2/5 to 2 inches; bracts ovate-acuminate, 0.8 to 1 times as long as calyx; peduncles strigose or hirsutulous.

Flowers:

Calyx 4-lobed, lobes ovate, 1/12 to 1/10 inch, upper 2 united; corolla semi-transparent but sometimes appearing white, tubular, 4-lobed, lobes 1/12 to 1/10 inch, spreading; stamens 4.

Fruits:

Capsules ellipsoid, 1/8 to 1/6; seeds 2, golden brown to blackish, boat-shaped, 1/12 to 1/8 inch.

Habitat:

Lawns, pastures, roadsides, and other disturbed sites

Distribution:

Occurs statewide

Origin:

Introduced

Uses:

This species has been used medicinally for a variety of ailments since ancient time. Dioscorides and Pliny (1st century) reported its use by soothsayers and as a love charm; and a tea made of its leaves and seeds was reputed to alleviate hemorrhoids, fever, cramps, stomach and liver troubles, headaches, asthma, toothaches, earaches, whooping cough, diarrhea, wounds, and poisonous snake and insect bites.

Comments:

Plantago lanceolata, is known to cause hay fever. lanceolata alludes to the shape of the leaves

Ribwort leaves