Broadleaf Plantain
Plantago major
How to Identify
Broadleaf Plantain
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Tropical Fruit?
Broadleaf plantain (no, not the tropical fruit...but still awesome) is one of the most common weeds in North America(1). Maybe as a kid, you’ve played with the little antennae-looking flower stalks. It loves to hang out in lawns, sidewalk cracks, dirt trails, and pretty much anywhere it can establish roots.
9th century French botanical illustration
Plantago major L. from Atlas des plantes de France, Tome troisième;
licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Ancient Medicine
Broadleaf Plantain, or Plantago major, is native to Europe. It was quite a popular medicinal plant, commonly used to alleviate stomach and intestinal issues and applied topically for wounds and skin conditions(2). The earliest recorded use dates back to the first century as a medicinal herb used by Greek physicians(3).​​
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In addition to its wide variety of healing abilities, the plant was also well known for growing in any climate or soil. For example, in Russia the plant is known as Podoroshnik, meaning near or along the road(2).
White Man's Footstep
Broadleaf Plantain was unintentionally introduced to North America as a result of Europe’s colonization in the 1600s. The tiny seeds stuck to clothes, cargo, and ballast of ships then dropped off as people travelled, built homes, and planted crops(5). ​
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Broadleaf Plantain is capable of tolerating conditions that most plants can’t, from a lack of nutrients to drought to compact soil(3). It just so happened that colonization impacted the environment, creating an environment that would allow the disturbance-adapted plant to thrive(5).
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Because Plantain appeared to follow colonizers wherever they went, the plant earned the name Whiteman's Footstep or Footprint from Indigenous communities(2, 5).​
Plantago major specimen collected 1915 in New York, Smithsonian Institution Botany Department
​American Progress, a color in print, 1873, John Gast
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (digital id: ppmsca 09855)​
A Botany of Colonization
by Maria Thereza Alves
​Public Seminar features an excerpt from “A Botany of Decolonization: Countering the Settler Colonial Quest for Indigenous Elimination,” an essay by J. KÄ“haulani Kauanui in Maria Thereza Alves: Seeds of Change (Amherst College Press and Vera List Center for Art and Politics, The New School, 2023).
Botanical Colonization
While not intentionally introduced, Broadleaf Plantain remains as evidence of the botanical colonization of North America that began in the 1600s.
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Native plants and peoples were intentionally uprooted and eliminated to make room for settlers, non-native plants, and colonial ideals(6). Settlers sought to reshape North America into a landscape that reflected their familiar European environments(7). Displacing and massacring Indigenous communities was made more manageable due to the deliberate severing of the relationship between the land and the people(7).
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Many of North America’s most noxious invasives were cultivated by European settlers over many centuries, like Japanese Knotweed and Garlic Mustard. Like the settlers, these plants alter the environment in order to prevent others from thriving. ​
Illustration of three Plantago species from Selected Weeds of the United States (Agriculture Handbook No. 366) circa 1970
Complicit or Resistant?
While Broadleaf Plantain may be a direct manifestation of colonial destruction, it is not responsible for it. In fact, Plantain helps to undo the damage. Plantain has the ability to grow on disturbed soil where other plants can't. Under the surface, its roots to break up dry, compressed soil(3). By restoring an environment damaged by human activity, it's creating livable conditions for its root-bearing neighbors(3). Plantain adapts to damaged landscapes and works to repair the ecological damage caused by the very people who brought it here(Kimm). Although a non-native species, Plantain does not exploit the land like Garlic Mustard or Japanese Knotweed. Instead, it contributes to the restoration and improvement of its new home. Yet it is still considered one of the most notorious weeds in the continent. ​
To Become Naturalized
Broadleaf Plantain teaches the ways of naturalization. Biologically, this means a non-native plant introduced to a new land can become self-sustaining without growing out of control(8). In the book Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer, biologist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, discusses how naturalization can be a way of life:
Indigenous Uses
As Broadleaf Plantain began to spread around North America, it became an important plant for many Indigenous communities. For example, the Aluet made a decoction out of the roots for medicine and Alaska Natives ate the leaves raw or cooked in dishes(9). Other uses included grinding leaves into a poultice for cuts, burns, and insect bites and consuming seeds to aid in digestion(5).
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Broadleaf Plantain not only heals the environment but also the people, providing food and medicine.
Harvesting Broadleaf Plantain
Learn about which parts of the plants you can harvest and at what time of the year they can be harvested once you've identified Broadleaf Plantain.
The whole plant is edible, although the roots are not very tasty.
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Leaves
Harvest the small, young leaves in the spring and early summer. This is when they are the most tender. While they can still be harvested throughout the summer and early fall, the leaves become stringy and tough.
Flower Stalks
& Seeds
There are multiple harvest periods for different flavors/results:
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In the spring, stalks are green and tender.
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In the summer and early fall, the seeds dry out and turn completely brown
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Watch the video below for a demonstration:
Recipes
Now that we have our harvest, it is time to start cooking. Find out the flavors of each part of the plant and what dishes they taste great in. Then check out the recipes below.
Flavor: bitter, mushroom
Raw
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Add to salads or risottos
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Dry and brew for tea
Cooked
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Sauté or blanch then add to pasta, soup, stir fry, or pesto​​
References
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Iwanycki et al. (2022). Travel Tales of a Worldwide Weed: Genomic Signatures of Plantago major L. Reveal Distinct Genotypic Groups With Links to Colonial Trade Routes. Front Plant Sci. 2022 June 9;13:838166. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.838166. PMID: 35755675; PMCID: PMC9218338.
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Tredici, P. (2010). Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast: a Field Guide. Cornell University Press.
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Richards, G. (2021). RHS Weeds: The Beauty and Uses of 50 Vagabond Plants. Welbeck Publishing.
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Stride, P. (2017). Anglo-Saxon Medicine and the Nine Herbs Charm in the twenty-first century. Indian Journal of Applied Research , 7(10), 625. https://doi.org/https://www.worldwidejournals.com/indian-journal-of-applied-research-(IJAR)/recent_issues_pdf/2017/October/October_2017_1506778363__157.pdf
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Kimmerer, R. W., & Burgoyne, J. (. (2024). The serviceberry: abundance and reciprocity in the natural world. First Scribner hardcover edition. New York, Scribner.
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Mastnak, T., Elyachar, J., & Boellstorff, T. (2014). Botanical decolonization: Rethinking native plants. SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.1068/d13006p
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Davis, H., & Todd, Z. (2016). On the Importance of a Date, or Decolonizing the Anthropocene
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Richardson, D. M., & Pyšek, P. (2012). Naturalization of introduced plants: Ecological drivers of biogeographical patterns. New Phytologist, 196(2), 383-396. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2012.04292.x
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Moerman, D. E. (1998). Native American ethnobotany. Timber Press.