PLANTAIN (

See also:

• LAT

Lat. plantago)  , a name given to certain plants with broad leaves . This is the case with certain species of Planlago, Alisma and Musa, to all of which the term is popularly applied . The species of Piantago are mostly weeds with a dense tuft of radical leaves and scapes bearing terminal spikes of small flowers; the long spikes of P. major, when in seed, are used for feeding cage-birds; P. lanceolata, so called from its narrow lanceolate 3—6-ribbed leaves, is popularly known as ribwort; Alisma P. is the water-plantain, so called from the resemblance of its broad ribbed aerial leaves to those of .P. major . The tropical fruit known as plantain belongs to the genus Musa (see BANANA) .