thewesternisles.co.uk

Western Isles Wildflowers

Western Isles wildflowers is a collection of information about our Hebridean wildflowers including identification hints, traditional herbal uses and general plant lore.

 

Great Plantain

Plantago major

Gaelic: Cuach Phàraig

Great plantain likes growing in waste spaces where the ground is firm, typically tracks, roadsides and other well trodden-ground.

The name of this wildflower comes from the leaf-shape.

We get four of the five UK species of plantain growing in the Western Isles:
Sea plantain, ribwort plantain, buck's horn plantain and great plantain.

They are easy to tell apart.
Ribwort plantain has stongly ribbed leaves which are finger shaped.
Great plantain has big flat and wide egg-shaped leaves (ribbed)
Sea plantain has yellow flowers and long leaves, narrow like grass.
Buck's horn plantain has leaves that look like minature`antlers!

Photography © Suzanne Harris
Dail Beag - Isle of Lewis - Outer Hebrides (Western Isles)
24th June, 2006