(21 votes, average: 3.81 out of 5)
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Ribwort Plantain
Edible 
Autumn 
Spring 
Summer
The flower heads taste surprisingly like mushroom and can also be used by school children as ‘pop’ guns.
| Hedgerow Type | |
| Common Names | Ribwort Plantain, Narrow Leaf Plantain |
| Scientific Name | Plantago lanceolata |
| Season Start | Mar |
| Season End | Nov |
Leaves
The leaves are long, narrow, lanceolate shaped and have veins (ribs) running parallel from the base of the leaf to the pointed top.
Flowers
The flowers grow from a stubby brown inflorescence on a leafless flower stalk and are tiny and white and can be found throughout Summer.
Stem
The flower stem is square in profile and can be quite hairy.
Habitat
Fields, lawns, meadows, roadsides, waste ground, parks and even sand dunes. It is a very hardy plant and can usually be found in any environment with soil.
Possible Confusion
Can look a little like Hoary Plantain, Plantago media but this has downy/hairy leaves and is edible.
Taste
The leaves, like Common Plantain, are too bitter, even when young but the ‘bud’ on the flower stem tastes suprisingly like mushroom.
Frequency
Very common.
Collecting
The leaves can be collected at any time for medicinal use, the flower ‘buds’, if being used to make a mushroom stock, need to be collected after they have turned brown but before they get really dry.
Medicinal Uses
Ribwort Plantain seems to be a very versatile addition to the medicine cabinet being an antihistamine, antifungal, antioxidant, analgesic and even a mild antibiotic. Used as an antihistamine, Ribwort Plantain is very effective at dealing with nettle stings or insect bites/stings unlike Dock which is just a placebo but if your children get stung and you can’t find any Plantain, placebos work.
The leaves can also be used to make a tea that acts as an effective cough medicine.
The roots apparantly make an effective treatment for rattlesnake bites!
23 comments for Ribwort Plantain
Thank you for the useful information on Ribwort plantain. I have used your page a reference for my own study on the common plant.
https://thelawnman.co.uk/ribwort-plantain-plantago-lanceolata/
Thank you.
Kris Lord
Why do my guinea pigs love the seed heads ??
Thanks
Most animals know what is good for them and Plantain is full of healthy vitamins and minerals.
My dog has eaten all the plantain i my garden. Why would she do this
Hi Doreen, Plantain is a very healthy plant containing vitamins and minerals so your dog is just eating well or maybe she just likes the flavour.
This info was by helpful. Thank you so much.
I am extremely interested in the natural world but my knowledge of wild flowers and herbs is very limited. Thank you for the extremely useful information.
Regards
Mike
This plant is being studied in detail in Trinity College Dublin and there is an excellent interview about in on Mooney goes Wild available on the RTE player April 20th 2020 starting at minute 30 about, a fascinating plant indeed that I never even had a name for but have known since childhood.
Thank you. Going to look into this.
Is ribwort plantain dangerous to dogs when eaten as my dog has eaten it and was sick and had diarrhoea we have a lot of it in our meadow grass would like some advice please
Plantains are apparently healthy for both humans and dogs and are ingredients in some herbal pet remedies.
Would this plant I wonder be used to cure a verruca
I don’t know if this great medicinal plant stretches to curing a verruca but it is worth a try.
My tortoise (an 18 year old hermanns) goes crazy for this plant and its flowers – she has a whole diet of weeds and flowers . . . loved reading this
There are a host of wild herbs growing in my yard. Wish you were here to identify them and their medical purposes. I live in Virginia
There is a ‘phone app called i-plant. Download it, then photograph the plants you wish to identify – bingo, the app will tell you what it is 🙂
Apps are great for pointing you in the right direction but to safely identify and eat a wild plant or mushroom, check various other sources and make sure you feel 100% confident of your ID before consumption.
My mother told me that she and her brother would dig up the roots to eat the nut.
I have tried it and it tastes a bit like horse radish. Nutty and hot.
Does plantain leaf heal kidney disease, I want to know
Hi Sly,
Sorry we can’t help you with that, its a bit beyond our field. Best talk to a doctor for that one.
Hi, can you smoke dried ribwort plantain like you can the broad leaf one? I’ve heard it’s good for stopping smoking. Is this right?
I haven’t heard of anybody smoking Plantain leaves but if it is possible with Greater Plantain, I can’t see why Ribwort would be any different.
Fantastic food for tortoises too