Narrow-Leaved Plantain

Plantain (Plantaginaceae family):

Plantago lanceolata L.

EPPO code:

PLALA

Other names:

Buckhorn plantain, English plantain, ribgrass

Species information

Lifecycle:

Perennial.

Propagation:

Reproduces by seed.

Emergence:

Most seedlings emerge in spring or early fall.

Habitat:

Narrow-leaved plantain is commonly found throughout Ontario in cultivated fields, pastures, lawns and gardens, and along roadsides.

Competitiveness:

Typically, narrow-leaved plantain is found in older pastures and hay fields where it is more a symptom of declining forage stands. The forage quality of narrow-leaved plantain is adequate, but pollen can cause hay fever.

Identification clues

Seedling

Cotyledons:

Linear and very long.

First leaves:

Narrow-leaved plantain’s first leaves are hairy along the margins and elongated with prominent whitish parallel veins.

Mature leaves:

Mature leaves form in a basal rosette. They are elongated with 3–5 prominent whitish veins. Although the plant’s leaves appear smooth they have silky hairs on the leaf surface, usually near the base.

Mature plant

Stems:

Narrow-leaved plantain has no stem; its leaves come from a basal rosette.

Flowers:

Its flowers are contained in a dense cylindrical-shaped seed head at the end of a long ridged stalk that arises from the basal rosette.

Seeds:

Seeds are 1.5–3.5 mm long, brown and shiny, and have an indentation on one side that becomes sticky when wet, which aids in the dispersal by animals.

Roots:

Short taproot with fibrous roots.

Often mistaken for

I know it's not Broad-leaved plantain because the thick, oval leaves of broad-leaved plantain differ from the long and narrow leaves of narrow-leaved plantain.