Volume 9 > Part 2 > Year 2008 > Page 155 > Plantaginaceae > Plantago

3. Plantago arenaria Waldst. & Kit.wfo-0000487715

Pl. Rari. Hung. 1: t. 51. 1801; Decne. in A.DC., Prodr. 13: 735. 1852.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Annual, usually erect herb, 30(–50) cm high, lacking a basal rosette of leaves when flowering; upper parts minutely papillose, sparsely and shortly hirsute. Leaves linear, opposite, with fascicles in the axils and appearing as a whorl of ± equally sized leaves or as a whorl of leaves with two members of the whorl a little larger than the rest, shortly hirsute. Flowers in numerous ovate to oblong heads of smooth appearance, with the flowers closely packed. Bracts winged, of two types; the basal with a very long acumen 3–4x longer than the rest of the bract; the upper bracts lacking a long acumen.

Thailand : Cultivated.

Distribution : Europe to the Middle East and India.

Vernacular : Thian klet hoi (เทียนเกล็ดหอย)(Central).

CommonName : Flea seed, Brown psyllium seed, Spanish psyllium see, French psyllium seed.

Uses: Used in the pharmaceutical industry and cultivated. An escape from cultivation in Chiang Mai (Fang). Used as a source of bulk laxatives and as a source of food thickeners.

Notes: The complex nomenclature of this species is summarized in Parnell (2003).