PLANTAIN. 



PLANTATION. 



absorbing, and selecting various substances by 

 their roots ; to ascertain the existence and na- 

 ture of the deleterious excretions from the 

 roots ; the poisonous character of these excre- 

 tions, if they exist, being rendered very pro- 

 blematical by the circumstance of plants, in a 

 state of nature, occupying the same situations 

 for ages ; to prove the effects of poisons on 

 plants; to test the influence of light in pro- 

 tecting plants from the effects of low tempera- 

 tures ; and, lastly, by means of these cases the 

 scientific naturalist will be assisted in explor- 

 ing that debatable Mound on the confines of 

 the animal and vegetable kingdoms, where it 

 is often impossible to determine the point at 

 which one ends and the other begins. 



PLANTAIN (Pluntago: derived from planta, 

 the sole of the foot ; resemblance in the leaves). 

 A genus of plants, the greater number of the 

 species of which are mere weeds: they are 

 generally almost stemless, and for the most 

 part perennial. There are in England five na- 

 tive species : 



1. Greater plantain, or way-bread (P. mijor), 

 which is very common in meadows, pastures, 

 ami waste and cultivated ground, perennial, 

 and in flower all summer. The root consists 

 of many long, stout fibres. The leaves are 

 radical, numerous, broad, with seven or nine 

 ribs, on channelled, ribbed stalks, often longer 

 than themselves; margins wavy or toothed. 

 Flowers on long spikes, small, whitish, with 

 reddish anthers, very numerous; the spikes, 

 each on a simple, naked, radical stalk. The 

 seeds, which are angular, in a membranous 

 capsule, are the food of small birds. The rose- 

 shaped variety and the panicled one are often 

 cultivated in gardens for the sake of curiosity, 

 arul affi>nl remarkable instances of vegetable 

 transformation. This species, like the whole 

 genus, in general, is mucilaginous, and some- 

 what astringent, qualities which render it not 

 altogether a useless rustic medicine. Cows 

 and horses do not relish this plant, but it is 

 eaten by sheep, goats, and swine. This peren- 

 nial-rooted plant is extensively naturalized in 

 the United States, and is remarkable, says Dr. 

 Darlington, for accompanying civilized man, 

 growing along his foot-paths, and flourishing 

 around his settlements. From this circum- 

 stance, the American Indians call it by a name 

 which signifies "the ichite man's foot." 



2. Hoary plantain (P. M<Y/HI). This species 

 grows abundantly in chalky or gravelly hills. 

 The root is ratuer woody. The leaves are 

 ovate, downy, all pressed close to the ground, 

 hoary, entire, with five or seven ribs. The 

 hoary plantain, a great and lasting nuisance in 

 fine grass-plats, is best killed by a drop of vi- 

 triolic acid on the crown of the root, which it 

 never long survives. Its medical qualities are 

 like the former. 



3. Ribwort plantain, or rib-grass (P. lanceo- 

 lifa}, is also a very common species in mea- 

 dows and pastures. PI. 9, i. The leaves are 

 numerous, erect, deep-green, acute, each taper- 

 ing at the base into a broad, flat, ribbed foot- 

 stalk, accompanied at its insertion with large 

 tufts of soft, white, woolly fibres. Flower- 

 stalks taller than the leaves, likewise woolly at 

 the base, five-angled, with intermediate fur- 



rows, nearly smooth, twisted. Spike ovate, att 

 inch long, with black imbricated bractes, occa- 

 sionally leafy at the base. This species makes 

 a part of most meadow hay, and has been culti- 

 vated as a crop, but seems to be now disused. 

 Cattle are said not to eat it willingly, at least 

 by itself. The total absence of rib-grass in 

 marshy lands is a certain criterion of their in- 

 different quality; and in proportion as such 

 soils are improved by draining, this plant will 

 flourish and abound. 



4. Sea plantain (P. maritima'). This grows 

 in muddy salt-marshes, and about the mouths 

 of large rivers. It is perennial, and flowers in 

 August and September. The root is long and 

 cylindrical ; herb various in luxuriance. The 

 leaves are all radical, numerous, from four to 

 twelve inches long, dull-green, linear, chan- 

 nelled, hairy, nearly entire. Flower-stalks 

 round, longer than the leaves, erect, smooth. 

 Spikes cylindrical, slender, many-flowered, 

 dense, with fleshy keeled bractes, not longer 

 than the calyx. Sheep appear to be very fond 

 of this species. 



5. Buck's-horn plantain, or star of the earth 

 (P. Coronopus). This is an annual species, 

 which flourishes on dry, sandy, or gravelly 

 ground, flowering from June to August. The 

 root is tapering; leaves pale, hairy, in pinnati- 

 fid, pointed segments. Spikes numerous, dense, 

 cylindrical, varying greatly in length, on 

 spreading hairy staltfs. 



The While, oj Virginia Plantain, is a native of 

 the United States, where it is commonly found 

 in barren old fields and stony hills. It has a 

 biennial root, leaves 2 or 3 inches long and 

 from 1 to 2 wide, the whole plant being covered 

 with a gray pubescence or down. Nine or ten 

 additional species of plantain are enumerated 

 in the United States. 



PLANTAIN, WHITE, see CUDWEED. 



PLANTATION. In England this term is 

 applied to a piece of ground planted with trees 

 for the purpose of producing timber or cop- 

 pice wood; and the term is also applied to 

 a collection of trees or shrubs placed in the 

 ground for their beauty or usefulness. 



For the correct consideration of the best 

 mode of forming plantations of timber trees, 

 several circumstances must, of necessity, be 

 taken into the planter's account, of which the 

 principal are 1st, The composition of the soil ; 

 2dly, The trees to which that soil is best 

 adapted; 3dly, The elevation, or inclination 

 of the land : an inattention to these three pri- 

 mary questions has been the source of much 

 waste of time, of labour, and of capital. 



In this, as in all researches where vegeta- 

 tion is concerned, nature is ever our best guide 

 and instructor. We find indigenous on the 

 chalks, the beech, the birch, and the ash; the 

 oak tenants the clay formation, the elm delights 

 in rich alluvial bottoms, and in warm, sheltered 

 situations. To the sand is left the fir tribe, 

 the ash, and the birch ; which last most pic- 

 turesque tree will endure a climate, and vege- 

 tate on soils, far too cold and too barren for 

 any other to exist in. On the warm gravels, 

 and on deep, light loams, we find the Spanish 

 chestnut located ; and if, on even the peat, we 

 only occasionally meet with a few straggling 

 4r2 893 



