86 PLANTAGINE^— PLANTAIN TPJBE 



it is a very good food for sheep, and that when mixed with other phants on 

 the pasture it is truly valuable ; but that it should not form too large a pro- 

 portion of the herbage. He remarks that in one field of seeds where 

 scarcely any plant but this Rib-grass appeared, it was so distasteful to 

 cattle as to be almost entirely refused by them. He adds that its upright 

 mode of growth, compared with P. media, the leaves of which grow flat on 

 the ground, will recommend it, or at least lead to its not being molested, on 

 the pasture. The latter plant, he says, should always be treated as a weed. 

 An abundant growth of the Ribwort is always indicative of a dry soil. A 

 foreign variety of this species, known as P. timbalU, is sometimes introduced 

 with clover-seeds. It is distinguished by having broad silvery margins to 

 the bracts and sepals. 



The seeds of this plant afford some mucilage, though in much less quantity 

 than those of several foreign species of Plantain, The seeds of P. psyllium, 

 arenaria, and cynops, which are peculiarly mucilaginous, have been used instead 

 of linseed and marsh-mallows in demulcent drinks; and both in France 

 and in India the seeds of some of the genus are commonly prescribed by 

 physicians. The seeds of P. arenaria are also said by M. de Candolle to be 

 exported in considerable quantities from Nismes and Montpellier to the 

 north of Europe, to be used by manufacturers of muslins in giving stiffness 

 to their fabrics. 



4. Sea-side Plantain {P. maritima). — Leaves linear, grooved, fleshy, 

 convex below ; stalk rounded ; spike cylindrical ; bracts egg-shaped and 

 pointed ; sepals not winged ; tube of the corolla downy ; capsule 2-celled, 

 cells 1-seeded ; perennial. This is not an unfrequent plant on salt marshes, 

 in the clefts of sea-rocks, on muddy banks, and at the bases or on the slopes 

 of mountains. It varies much in size, its leaves being sometimes not more 

 than an inch, and at others a foot long. It is readily known from the other 

 species, by these slender leaves, and by its greater succulence, and paler 

 green tint ; but the spike, except in being slighter and longer, much resembles 

 both in flower and seeds that of the Greater Plantain, and like that may be 

 seen from June to September or October. It has, in common with most 

 plants of the salt marsh, a saltish flavour, and probably the wild birds eat 

 its young buds and seeds, for these are greatly relished by the caged gold- 

 finch. Two A^arieties occur rarely among rocks. In one of them the leaA-es 

 are almost flat, and somewhat lanceolate, toothed and smooth, w'th a densely 

 hairy stalk. This is the form termed major ; while a variety called minor 

 has linear lanceolate leaves, which as well as the stalk are densely hairy. In 

 this latter form, which is found in the Orkneys, the leaves are sometimes 

 almost thread-like. 



5. Buck's-horn Plantain (P. cordnopus). — Leaves linear, pinnatifid 

 and toothed; stalk rounded; bracts egg-shaped and awl-shaped; lateral 

 sepals with a membranous fringed wing at the back ; capsules 4-celled ; cells 

 1-seeded; annual or biennial. This is a singular little plant, with all the 

 general appearance of the other Plantains, save in its cut leaves. These are 

 more or less downy, usually prostrate, and often a good deal tinged with 

 red, especially when growing on cliffs by the sea. The plant is often common 

 on sea-cliffs, and it grows also on gravelly sterile soils, both near the coast 



