104 RIBWORT PLANTAIN. 



We have five wild species of plantain, and 

 one of the most common of them all is that 

 broad-leaved kind, the Greater Plantain, {Plan- 

 tago majo7\) the seeds of which are so often 

 gathered foi; birds. The leaves of this species 

 are astringent, and frequently applied to 

 womids. The Highlanders ascribe to it such 

 great virtues, that they call it by the name of 

 Slan-lus, or the healing plant. Kalm says 

 that in America they term it the Englishman's 

 Foot, for they say that wherever a European 

 has come, this plant has grown in his footsteps. 

 It is sometimes called Way-bred ; but this is 

 probably a corruption of its old Saxon name 

 of Wabret, by which it is yet commonly 

 known in Teviotdale. This name occurs in 

 our early poets, and one of them, humorously 

 describing a Bee's pilgrimage, says — 



" And -with a wabret leaf he made a wallet, 

 With scrip to beg his crumbs and pick his sallet." 



Another species, the Buck's-horn Plantain, 

 [Plantafjo coronojms,) is common on gravelly 

 and sterile soils, and often grows on sea- 

 beaches. 



