# What is it and how do you fix it to eat?



## sunflower-n-ks (Aug 7, 2006)

An extremely prolific plant here that grows like the dandelion but has broad rounded leaves. The seed stalk comes up from the center of the plant. I have always known it as plantain, and have heard that it can be eaten. But when I tried to look it up under that name, all I got was the banana cousin. 

It is taking over my yard. Where the ground is bare from the dog run, it is huge, dark green and thick. In areas where there is grass it is small and lighter green, but again so think it is killing out the grass. I want to get rid of it in the grass, but if it can be eaten, then the large ones should be on the menu. 

I have ducks and geese and they eat some of the small ones, but prefer other greens.


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## Phillip (Feb 6, 2006)

A picture would be very helpful...


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## debbiebofjc (Jun 11, 2006)

Search for "common plantain".
I think that is what you are talking about.
Here is a good link I found, with pics and usage info:
http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Plants.Folder/CommonPlantain.html


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## Phillip (Feb 6, 2006)

This is what I'm plagued with...http://calflora.net/bloomingplants/englishplantain.html It dosn't tast very good to me..


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

If it is plantain (aka buckhorn) the best way to fix it is to find some rabbits, feed plantain to rabbits, eat rabbits.


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## sunflower-n-ks (Aug 7, 2006)

debbiebofjc - that is what mine is. Thanks. At least now I know to just get aggressive and do what I can to get rid of it. Guess the ducks and geese know best and avoid it.  I do have rabbits, but they are Lionheads, so not much for meat there. I will put some in their cages and see if they like it. 

Thanks to everyone for your replies.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

This might help you some, tells how to prepare for eating and medicinal uses for plantain.

http://www.kingdomplantae.net/commonPlantain.php


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## Deborah Stephenson (May 10, 2002)

Plantain is good to eat raw in salads, or cooked like any other wild green (poke, dock, etc.) and served with butter, salt & pepper. The secret is to harvest the *young* leaves - not the big monster sized ones. Those are tough and can be bitter. When it comes to greens, bigger is never better!


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## bee (May 12, 2002)

Plantain, is an european invader(indians called it the "whitemans footprint" because where they went the weed was sure to follow), most folks don't know that when white people made these shores everything east of the mississippi was shield forest...no hayfields. For the stock,(cattle,sheep and horses), of the colonisits hay had to be brought in by ship until land could be cleared. In this hay was a variety of weed seeds, plantain was just one. Pause a moment and consider a land where the only open "fields" were old burns and abandoned indian fields......


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## Deborah Stephenson (May 10, 2002)

Bee, I am glad you raised the issue of plantain's foreign origins. When I was a kid, I saw this everywhere and like most kids I just accepted it as something that grew here and was part of the environment - like dandelions. As I got older and started learning more about what makes up an ecosystem, I read more about plantain (among others) and discovered what a pervasive weed it really is. You almost cannot find a place that has not been invaded by one species or another (usually the broadleaf plantain, but in drier places the narrowleaf holds its own pretty well too). I heard it called "Englishman's footprints", but your version says it better since it was widely dispersed by *all* the Europeans who came here. 

Our place is mostly a fairly pristine limestone/dolomite glade that we have gradually been clearing of invasive red cedars - attempting to restore it to its natural state. When we bought the place about 15 years ago, there was no sign of plantain or dandelions - though we did (and still do) have a large population of oxeye daisies (another invader). However, despite our best efforts to prevent the invasion of plantain (including hand digging all we find) we are starting to get a population in the area around our house and garden. Once established, these pests are nearly impossible to stop, so the best thing is to never let them in in the first place. We learned the hard way that bringing in hay and straw for our animals was tantamount to an invitation for these noxious weeds! Now we have a war on our hands, but at least we have learned not to waste them. We simply eat our conquests!

By the way, those long, deep forests the early explorers and pioneers walked through, though vast, were not entirely devoid of natural open spaces as you say. When the first Europeans came through them, they were so oppressed by the darkness and seeming endlessness of the forests that when they did happen upon natural clearings they referred to these sunlit openings as "gladde places" - hence the word "glade" from that old English word for glad or happy. Glades are important ecosystems in their own right - full of diversity in both fauna and flora. Unfortunately these little half plain/ half deserts are disappearing at an alarming rate. (Which is why we are working so hard to restore ours. We also plan a conservation easement on it to preserve and protect it forever.) Google Hercules Glade Wilderness or Henning Conservation Area (among many others) and you will see examples of what were very pretty alternatives to endless forests even back then.


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## thequeensblessing (Mar 30, 2003)

We eat the very young leaves of both plaintain and dandelion every spring. They are great in salads and boiled as a cooked green vegetable.


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

i need to start digging those invassive earthworms...


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