Plantago coronopus

Krähenfuß plantain ( Plantago coronopus )

The crow's foot - plantain ( Plantago coronopus ) (also, slot - plantain, slot leaf plantain, called stag horn plantain Capuchin beard, monk beard or goatee ) is a salt plant, a small display according to Ellenberg to moderate salinity. It belongs to the family of the plantain family ( Plantaginaceae ) and is on or perennial.

Features

The crow's foot - Plantain is a about 5 to 25 cm tall plant whose leaves are in a basal rosette and forming a long leafless, flower-bearing stems. The numerous, whitish, often vorweiblichen individual flowers are in an ear of corn, which is not longer than the remaining part of the stem. The individual flowers are strongly flattened to the fruit time. From these, a one-to fünfsamige fruit capsule is formed, which remains trapped in the calyx. Up to 50 individual, rather thin, about 4-8 cm long leaves are arranged in rosettes just before the bottom. They are, contrary to other members of the genus plantains, but serrated fiederteilig or coarse. They also have protruding, short, often stiff shaggy hair, which can also verkahlen during leaf development. The plant forms a taproot, with which they can survive the winter.

Pollination is, as with other species of the genus plantains ( Plantago ), by the wind. The fruit capsules are usually spread through the water ( Hydrochorie ). However, you can also stick to the fur of animals or on the plumage of birds and are laid out this way ( Epizoochorie ).

Occurrence and distribution

The plant is not only near the coasts of Europe before, but is also common in the temperate latitudes of West Asia.

The flowering from June to September plant grows in moist, or wet-dry, disturbed and often appears influenced salt bodies. On the coast it is frequently found on salt marshes. However, in the inland it is rare. Your stocks currently go back a bit. This is mainly due to the abandonment of traditional extensive livestock grazing on salt- affected fields. The crow's foot - plantain has its main occurrence in the plant formation of the salt plant corridors and the creep and kick lawn. It is Kennart the Association Lolio - Plantaginetum coronopi and Begleitart the Association Armerion maritimae. Through the use of road salt they can be found in Germany on motorways.

System

The type is the type species of the subgenus and the same section Coronopus. It contains the following sub- types:

• Plantago coronopus ssp. coronopus L.
• Plantago coronopus ssp. commutata ( Guss. ) pilgrim is located in the central- eastern Mediterranean coast to the room.
• Plantago coronopus ssp. cupanii ( Guss. ) Nyman
• Plantago coronopus ssp. purpurascens pilgrims

Use

The crow's foot - plantain has often been used in the past as a vegetable. The physician and botanist Hieronymus Bock leads him in his herb book of 1546 as " Kräen or Rappenfüßlein " and recommends it as a medicinal herb for kidney and bladder complaints.

The crow's foot - plantain is grown today in northern Italy and the Swiss canton of Ticino as a salad plant ( barba dei Frati ). The cultivation was carried out in the last few decades in a relatively small scale, since the plant has been largely supplanted by today's conventional vegetables and salads. Recently, however, the crow's foot - plantain is experiencing a resurgence and is now increasingly on the weekly market to find in specialty stores and in health food stores. He also finds a place as a blending partner in the seed mixture Misticanza.

The plant can be eaten raw or cooked. The taste is slightly bitter, sour and also, depending on place, be weak salty.