# What's the name....



## BjornBee (Feb 7, 2003)

I went out and took a picture. From what I found out, it may not be, or is not, "plantain" at all.

So what is the plant shown in the photo?

http://s186.photobucket.com/albums/x236/BjornBee/?action=view&current=beepictures129.jpg

Thank you.


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## papa bear (Nov 1, 2005)

hey bjorn, try www.wssa.net. "weed science society of America". you might have to do some searching, but there is a gallery, with plantain. look the "weeds" box identification. and follow the links. let me know what the plant is.


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## drobbins (Jun 1, 2005)

there's been discussion of a weed called plantain, I think, that you chew and then put on a sting for relief, but I don't think it looks like what you describe

http://www.herbs2000.com/herbs/herbs_plantain.htm

Dave


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## papa bear (Nov 1, 2005)

hey. that's what it shows in the web site. decent salad plant


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## BjornBee (Feb 7, 2003)

Dave, yeah, I found some info on plantain after doing a search and it corrected the spelling. Its has some herbal/medicinal uses. That was easy to search since I had a name to go by.

But how about the one in the photo? I'll try the site papa referred (Thank you) but hate searching sites.

I know its a common backyard weed.

Anyone?


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## BjornBee (Feb 7, 2003)

papa bear said:


> hey. that's what it shows in the web site. decent salad plant


I have plenty of that stuff too! But this has much narrower leaves and the tassels are not one to two inches long like the plantain in the site you gave. Unless there are different varieties and this is just another plantain variety.


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## Eaglerock (Jul 8, 2008)

Is it a seed of grass or weed grass? I know we use to wrap the stem around it, holding close to the bud and pull to shoot it it someone.


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## drobbins (Jun 1, 2005)

I know the plant you're talking about but don't know a name
my wife thinks it may be coming from the clover
can you look at the ground and see what the plant looks like, the picture is of the seed head

Dave


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## papa bear (Nov 1, 2005)

sorry, if the url is longer than my memory i can't write it. but it shows a picture just like the one you posted. thanks dave for the site you posted i added it to my favorites. you being a nc person i am sure you used the old remedy of snuff for a sting. used to be easy to find someone chewing or dipping when i was a boy, but when one of my nieces got into a nest of yellow jackets the the other day. i could not find any one that had any.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Can we get a picture of the leaves? I assume they are by the ground? There are several types of plantain. The kind that grows around here looks like this:
http://www.bushfarms.com/images/Plantain.jpg

But I've seen some back east that has a tall stem and smaller seed area like the one you are showing. But since it doesn't grow around here, I may have missed the flowering stage it is at in your picture. Or it may not be plantain at all.


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## Eaglerock (Jul 8, 2008)

papa bear said:


> but when one of my nieces got into a next of yellow jackets the the other day. i could not find any one that had any.


Years ago back in 1998, my three daughters were playing the National Anthem with the High School Band, for Memorial Day at a gathering at the Cemetery in a small town, after playing in the small city earlier. Well my middle daughter got stung several times while playing, and it hurt so bad, but she kept on playing. She said she didn't want to yell during the National Anthem, nor did she want to stop playing, because they needed her, as there were only two Tenor Saxes there that day. So after playing, she looked back because I was behind them away from the crowd doing the dad thing, taking pictures, having water for anyone needing it. As soon as I knew she had been stung, I went next to a pine tree moved the needles and under was dirt... soft dirt. I poured water on it and made some mud... spread it on her arms and legs where she was stung. She said it worked right away and she was fine and went back to her place in the band. 
I have used the mud thing many times... picnics, vacations, etc. In that heat it dried fast. As it drys it draws the poison out, or so I had been told.

Oh the Cemetery people found the nest and burned them out the next day. She was standing right in front of it. No one was stung after that so she must have steped on their hole when getting in place, or someone else did and they went after the wrong "Culprit"....


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## GRIMBEE (Apr 3, 2007)

That is a head of white dutch clover that has gone to the seed stage


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## Oldbee (Sep 25, 2006)

Thanks for that site papa bear! It looks like it could be narrow-leaf plantain to me.


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## GRIMBEE (Apr 3, 2007)

Google (clover gone to seed) or even flicker and you will see its white dutch clover gone to seed. I grow white dutch and red, and yellow clover. Got a pound of each in seed.
PAPA's site does not show white clover when it goes to seed.


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## Oldbee (Sep 25, 2006)

Yes, I see the the white dutch clover at the bottom of the photo and the 3-lobed leaves. There are also some narrow leaves on the far left and bottom right that belong to a different plant; the 'Narrow-leaf Plantain'; I hope, lol. Not the REALLY narrow leaves, which is grass of course.


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## trumpet01 (May 5, 2008)

It's called Buckhorn Plantain. The stage with the head is called Inflorescence. Jim <><


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## BjornBee (Feb 7, 2003)

I know its not clover.

here is a picture of what I know is plantain on the left, clover on the right. The stuff I'm asking about is in the middle.

Trumpet, I'll try to search that. Thank you.

http://s186.photobucket.com/albums/x236/BjornBee/?action=view&current=beepictures130.jpg


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## BjornBee (Feb 7, 2003)

And yes, My uncles would wrapped those around their finger and pop them at us when we were small.


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## Eaglerock (Jul 8, 2008)

BjornBee said:


> And yes, My uncles would wrapped those around their finger and pop them at us when we were small.


 We did it as kids to each other... wrap the stem around it and pop it.


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## MapMan (May 24, 2007)

BjornBee said:


> I know its not clover.
> 
> here is a picture of what I know is plantain on the left, clover on the right. The stuff I'm asking about is in the middle.


It's narrow-leaved plaintain.

http://www.2bnthewild.com/plants/H150.htm

Got tons of it here, along with dutch clover. Bees work it.

MM


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

The one on the left is the kind of Plantain we have around here. The one in the middle is a kind of Plantain I've only seen back east. The one on the right is white dutch clover.


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## GRIMBEE (Apr 3, 2007)

It is very difficult for me to identify plants and flowers as there are many species and they all look similar at different stages. If I am wrong I am glad to be corrected as I still have alot to learn


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## sc-bee (May 10, 2005)

Mapman the winner! Plantain it is. Got lots of it here. Chewed a little of it up to put on a sting a few weeks ago. Real bitter but worked!


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## purvisgs (Apr 5, 2008)

yes plantain- we have a similar looking variety in the PNW


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## Joseph Clemens (Feb 12, 2005)

BjornBee said:


> I went out and took a picture. From what I found out, it may not be, or is not, "plantain" at all.
> 
> So what is the plant shown in the photo?
> 
> ...


Your photo, above, shows the flower stalks of plantain (_Plantago major_) and white clover (_Trifolium repens_). One plantain leaf can be seen in the bottom left corner of the photo.


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## BjornBee (Feb 7, 2003)

Thank you everyone. I knew the one on the left (second posted photo) is what I had known to be plantain, but wasn't sure. The stuff in the middle, the narrow leaf plantain, was just humming with so many bees this morning around 7 am. The hives were bringing in almost white pollen, and I guess this is what it was. Everything else seemed to be wet with dew, but the bees love this stuff that early in the morning. Now I have another reason to extend my "Don't cut the grass' season. 

Anyone know anything about the nutritional value, nectar, or anything else about it? Or is it only good for pollen?

Thank you.


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## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

*Broadleaf plantain*

Scientific Name Plantago major 
Family Plantain family (Plantaginaceae) 
Life Cycle Cool season perennial 

http://www.turf.uiuc.edu/weed_web/descriptions/broaldleafplantain.htm
Regards,
Ernie


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## paintingpreacher (Jul 29, 2006)

On the left is Common Plantain, "Plantago Major"

In the middle is English Plantain, " Plantago Lanceolata"

We have both in my area, but I have not observed bees on either variety.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I wasn't aware that plantain made any nectar, but it is a source of pollen. How nutritious? I have no idea.


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