Saturday Botany Photos: Sea Plantain (Plantago maritima)

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Sea Plantain.  This photo was taken in June 2011 in Ketchikan, AK.

Sea Plantain (Plantago maritima) is an herbaceous perennial usually found growing in sandy soils of coastal environments.  It is native to temperate coastal areas around the world in the northern and southern hemispheres.  Though a native of the Pacific Northwest, it is related to two introduced weeds in this area: P. major, and P. lanceolata.  Of these three species, Sea Plantain has the narrowest leaves measuring less than 1 centimeter wide.

The leaves of Sea Plantain, also known as Goose Tongue, are edible (1,2).  I have only eaten it once raw and it was quite tasty, being a little salty flavored, presumably from growing in salty coastal locations.  Les Stroud of "Survivorman" fame also nibbled on it raw in Alaska (2nd season).  Some books recommend steaming it.  Before eating any wild plant, be absolutely positive of it's identification; a mistake could be deadly.

Saturday Botany Photos: Devil's Club Oplopanax horridus

Devil's Club fruit cluster

This Saturday's plant species is Devil's Club (Oplopanax horridus, Apiaceae).  This species is an understory shrub that grows to 3 meters tall with stems and leaves armed with quite vicious-looking yellowish spines.  It often forms dense thickets.  The fruit is not edible but it is difficult to gather in quantity anyway due to the spiny nature of the plant.

Note:  Those of you with some taxonomic savvy may notice that I listed this species' family as "Apiaceae" instead of "Araliaceae".  Both families have been combined by taxonomists into a larger Apiaceae and so Oplopanax is no longer in the Araliaceae.

Devil's Club branch showing large (1 ft diameter) maple-like leaves.

Close-up of the spines on Devil's Club

Saturday Botany Photo

From Pacific Northwest Botany

Twinflower (Linnaea borealis, Linnaeaceae) growing among Stair-step Moss (Hylocomium splendens, Hylocomiaceae) in the Olympic National Forest.