Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: Plantaginaceae

This image was taken on the hike to the base of Pilot Rock in Southern Oregon on July 23

Even though this flower is considered to be an invasive weed, I've always loved its unusual and interesting shape. What I didn't know was its colorful history! A native plant of Europe, it is now found in most parts of the world and has been found all the way back to the early Neolithic age, about 8,000 years ago! I wonder if that's why it's so odd looking!!! There is evidence that people in what is now Germany gathered "Plantago lanceolata" for a food source for their farm animals. It has been historically known as a medicinal cure-all, even mentioned by Chaucer and Shakespeare! Today, this herbal plant is found to be useful as a cough suppressant and if you look up Ricola , you'll see this herb listed as one of the ingredients they use in their formulas! It's also used in teas and other herbal remedies. Besides its mediciinal uses, Plantains (not related to the banana relative by the same name) are also edible; young leaves and flower heads can be added to salads; the leaves can be substituted for spinach. If you would like to know more about its edible and medicinal uses, there's a great page here: Prairie Land Herbs: Plantain If you would like to know more about the plant in general, Wiki has a source here: Wiki: Plantain (Plantago lanceolata) and here Wiki: Plantago Explored on June 10, 2012, placement at #406

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to one of the very smallest, most beautiful little flowers I've ever seen! If you can believe it, this blossom measures only about 1/8" of an inch in length and just 1/16" wide!! Impossibly tiny, I was taking a picture of a tiny flower twice this size when I spotted this blossom twinkling at me. "Seriously??!! It's a FLOWER!!" I was excited to see if I could identify it, and with a bit of searching, I got lucky! YAY! I wasn't at all surprised to find out that it's actually CALLED a "Small Flower"!!! The Small-flowered Tonella is found in protected forest under trees, often Oaks (which this one was!) and is native to western North America from Vancouver Island to southern California at low to mid-elevations. If you would like to know more about Small-flower Tonellas, Wiki has a page here: Wiki: Small-flower Tonella (Tonella tenella)