PLANTAGO. 
the South of Europe. Mr. Donn, who cultivated it in 
the botanic garden at Cambridge, attributes it to Sweden, 
and afligns the year 1790 for its introduction. 
3. Plantago Aliatica, or Afiatic plantain : leaves ovate, 
fmooth ; fcape angular; fpike having the florets diftinCt. 
This fpecies refembles P. major fo much, that it might 
eafily be taken for the fame : the fpike however is longer, 
the flowers remote, the leaves ufually fomewhat toothed 
at the bafe, and the fcape angular. Native of China and 
Siberia. Introduced in 1787, by Monf. Thouin. It 
flowers in July. 
4. Plantago maxima, orgreateft plantain : leaves ovate, 
fomewhat toothletted, pubefcent, nine-nerved; fpikes 
cylindrical, imbricate; fcape round. This is a plant 
which bears the open air. The root is fufiform, peren¬ 
nial, and the thicknefs of a finger: producing annually 
feveral leaves with long footftalks, which are marked in 
front with a furrow. The leaves are lanceolate, fome¬ 
what acute, either toothed or entire, marked with from 
five to eleven nerves, villofe on both fides, but 1110ft fo 
on the back ; hence they feel foft to the touch : they 
vary much in fize and breadth, fo that, exclufive of the 
footftalks, a leaf of nine inches (hall be fometimes of the 
breadth of half a foot, and fometimes only two inches. 
Native of Siberia. Cultivated in 1763, by Mr. James 
Gordon. It flowers in July and Auguft. 
5. Plantago media, or hoary plantain : leaves ovate, 
pubefcent, longer than the petiole ; fcape round ; fpike 
cylindrical; feeds folitary. Hoary Plantain has the 
leaves fmall, and lefs blunt than in the common great 
plantain ; hoary, commonly five-nerved, lying clofe to the 
ground, on very fnort dilated petioles. Spike fliort, clofe. 
Filaments longer than in P. major, pale purple : antherse 
white, and more fliowy. Capfules containing only two 
feeds, as in P. lanceolata. Gsertner defences the capl'ule 
as covered by both calyx and corolla, of a cylindric-ovate 
form, opening tranfverfely a little above the bafe, fo that 
the lid forms the greater part of it. Partition fo very 
thin as to be almoft evanefcent in a flate of maturity. 
Seed in each cell one, of an oblong elliptic form, on one 
fide convex and fmooth, on the other concave, with an 
umbilical tubercle in the middle, of a yellowfih horn- 
colour, (hilling and mucilaginous. The root is peren¬ 
nial, large when fully grown, penetrating deep, and 
having numerous lateral fibres, by which it l'upports 
itfelf in the moll fcorching feafonsit is alfo not de- 
ftroyed by frequent mowing, as no oft lawns and grafs- 
plats teftify. Native of moll parts of Europe, among 
grafs, efpecially in calcareous and gravelly foils ; flower¬ 
ing during the whole fummer. 
6* Plantago Virginica, or Virginian plantain : leaves 
lanceolate-ovate,pubefcent, fomewhat toothletted ; fpikes 
haying the flowers remote; fcape round. In America 
this unfolds its corolla, and puts forth the ftanoens, 
which it fcarcely does in Europe. It is an annual plant, 
native of Virginia. Introduced in 1775,by Monf. Thouin. 
7- Plantago altiflima, or tall plantain : leaves lanceo¬ 
late, five-nerved, toothed, fmooth ; fpike oblong-cylin¬ 
drical; fcape angular. Root perennial. Leaves a foot 
or a foot and a haif in length, thick, with blunt diilant 
teeth, on very long petioles. Scapes two or three feet 
high ; when young rugged, but when old almoft fmooth. 
Spike cylindrical, fcarcely an inch and a half in length, 
lmooth; in proportion to the fize of the plant, fliort, 
compact, and clofe. Native of Italy and Silefia. Intro¬ 
duced in 1774, by Jof. Nich. de Jacquin. 
8. Plantago lanceolata, or ribwort-plantain : leaves 
lanceolate; fpike fubovate, naked ; fcape angular. Root 
perennial, when old appearing as if bitten off at the ^nd. 
Leaves all from the root, truly lanceolate, diftinguifhed 
by five (fometimes three or (even) pi eminent ribs, pointed, 
entire, or fometimes having a few teeth near the bafe : 
Dr. Withering remarks, that in maritime (filiations 
they are toothed all along the edges ; they are of a dark' 
Vol. XX, No. 1395. 
GOD 
green, moft hairy beneath, taper at the bafe into a long 
flat footftalk, ribbed like the leaf itfelf, and at their infer- 
tion are invelled with long white woolly hair fpringing 
from the crown of the root. Scapes or flowering (talks 
upright, longer than the leaves, from among which they 
fpring ; they are clothed at the bafe with the fame kind 
of hair, and upwards are fmoothifli, round with five deep 
furrows, (lightly twilled, and terminated by a fliort ovate 
fpike, imbricated with black fcaies, and enlivened with 
the prominent cream-coloured antherae, in its more 
advanced ftate. A fpike will fometimes contain one 
hundred and thirty fmall flowers, crowded clofe together, 
with an ovate pointed fcale or bradte at the bafe of each. 
The capfule contains two oblong (hining feeds, of an 
amber colour, in each cell. The (talks continue to grow 
after the flowering is over, and fometimes (hoot out to the 
length of two feet or more. When it grows in meadows, 
the leaves are ereCt and drawn up ; but in a dry barren 
foil, they are {barter, broader, and more fpread on the 
ground. 
It grows fpontaneoufly by the fides of roads, and in dry 
paftures, where it is left untouched by cattle, to feed 
fmall birds with the copious produce of its feeds. It has 
been generally conlidered as a weed, occupying the room 
of graflesand other ufeful herbs; but it has lately been 
introduced into culture, under the name of rib-grafs, as 
a good food for (heep, or to be made into hay for cattle in 
general. Haller attributes the richnefs of the milk in the 
alpine dairies to this plant and Alchemilla vulgaris, or 
lady’s mantle. Linnaeus fays, it is eaten by horfes, (beep, 
and goats, but that cows refufe it. Sheep will eat it, 
either green or dried, provided it be well gotten ; but it 
does not anfwer for palturage, without a mixture of clo¬ 
ver or grades. The total abfence, fays Dr. Withering, 
of this plant, in rnarfhy lands, is a certain criterion of 
their wretched quality. In proportion as fuch foils are 
improved by draining, it will flourifh and abound. Rib¬ 
wort-plantain however, at lead in England, is not a cri¬ 
terion of excellence in a foil, but merely of its drynefs. 
Mr. Curtis, Dr. Withering, and Dr. Smith, do not fpeak 
favourably of this plant, as a pafture or meadow herb. 
Certainly from theory one fliould decide agninlt it: but 
practical men hold it in fome efteem. 
Mr. Zappa, of Milan, affirms that P. lanceolata grows 
fpontaneoufly in every meadow of Lombardy, efpecially 
in thofe which are irrigated ; that it vegetates early, 
flowers at the beginning of May, ripens in five weeks, 
and is cut with Poa trivialis; that the height of the leaves 
is about one foot, and of the (talk a foot and half; that 
it multiplies itfelf much by the feed, and a little by the 
roots, which it continues for fome time to reproduce ; 
that is eaten heartily by every fort of cattle, and in parti¬ 
cular by the cows in grafs, and the cows like it moft in 
May, having great influence on the milk; that the hay 
is eaten more voracioufly by cows, and has on them 
great influence in the flefn ; in fliort, that is one of the 
belt plants either for the milk or the flefli. 
Mr. Young informs 11s, that he had long before recom¬ 
mended this plant for laying land to grafs, and fowed it 
on his own farm. At the lame time he looks upon it as 
extravagant to propofe dandelion and forrel as plants 
proper for a cow-palture; and conjectures that thofe 
plants, being found among good ones, have qualities 
given them which do not properly belong to them. Mr. 
Martyn fays, “ I am inclined to make the fame conjecture 
of narrow-leaved plantain, ribwort, or rib-grafs; and 
fliould even have preferred dandelion and forrel to it; 
but I am cautious of oppofing theory to practice.” 
Dr. Anderfon obferves, that it is well liked by herfies 
and cattle, and yields a very good crop upon rich ground 
tending to damipnefs, if it is at the fame time foft and 
fpongy; but that upon any foil which has a tendency to 
bind, or upon dry ground, it furnifhes a very fcanty crop. 
It has been adopted in fome parts of Yorkshire as a 
7 Q fummer- 
