Ribwort plantain
Plantago lanceolata L.
- light
- Full sun
- water
- —
- tall
- 30 cm
- wide
- —
Plantaginaceae
Also called Narrow leaved plantain, Narrowleaf plantain, Rib-grass, English plantain, German Psyllium
Formerly Arnoglossum lanceolatum, Lagopus lanceolatus, Lagopus timbalii, Plantago abyssinica, and 33 more
When it flowers
Flowers February to June and August to December in the tropics.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- PerennialKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- TemperateKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- Macaronesia, N. Africa to Mauritania, Temp. EurasiaKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Full sun (6 h or more)Read from NC State Extension, one source
- Height
- 15 cm to 46 cmRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Flowers
- White, brownRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Coldest it survives
- -28.9 °C (USDA zone 5a)Read from NC State Extension, one source
Not known yet: spread, water, heat, hottest it survives.
Grow it with
Suggested by a rule, not by a gardener: same climate (kew), flowering when this plant does not (inaturalist), and a different shape.
ElderFlowers January and July, when this does not
Japanese honeysuckleFlowers January and July, when this does not
Memorial RoseFlowers January and July, when this does not
PomegranateFlowers January and July, when this does not
PurslaneFlowers January and July, when this does not
RosemaryFlowers January and July, when this does not
In other languages (12)
- Spanish
- Llantén menor, Siete Venas, llantén menor
- Finnish
- heinäratamo, Heinäratamo
- Catalan
- plantatge de fulla estreta, Cinc-costures, Cinc-nervis
- French
- Plantain lancéolé, plantain lancéolé
- Hebrew
- לחך אזמלני
- German
- Spitz-Wegerich, Spitzwegerich
- Italian
- Piantaggine lanciuola, Cinquenervi, Orecchie di lepre
- Danish
- Lancetvejbred, Lancet-vejbred, Lancet-Vejbred
- Japanese
- ヘラオオバコ, エダウチヘラオオバコ, 箆大葉子
- Russian
- Подорожник ланцетный, Подорожник сомнительный, Подорожник ланцетовидный
- root
- PLALAN, Smale waegbrei, Hevîzar
- Portuguese
- Língua-de-ovelha, Tanchagem
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- NC State Extension, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA 3.0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- 3D model: Plantago lanceolata (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.