| Plantago coronopus | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Asterids |
| Order: | Lamiales |
| Family: | Plantaginaceae |
| Genus: | Plantago |
| Species: | P. coronopus |
| Binomial name | |
| Plantago coronopus L. |
|
Plantago coronopus (minutina, erba stella, buck's horn plantain) is a species of Plantago sometimes grown as a leaf vegetable. It is native to Eurasia and North Africa but it can be found elsewhere, including the United States, Australia, and New Zealand as an introduced species.
It is an annual or biennial herb producing a basal rosette of narrowly lance-shaped leaves up to 25 centimeters long. The leaves are edged with small lance-shaped lobes. The inflorescences grow erect to about half a meter in maximum height. They have dense spikes of flowers which sometimes curve. Each flower has four whitish lobes each measuring about a millimeter long.