'Pumpkin Knob' Sea Plantain

Plantago maritima Origin: Harraseeket River, Freeport, Maine Improvement status: Wild Seeds per packet: ~40 BOTANICAL SAMPLE - NOT GERMINATION TESTED Life cycle: Perennial Sea Plantain (Plantago maritima) is a wild perennial vegetable that inhabits maritime environments in temperate to cold climates across the northern hemisphere. It has a circumpolar distribution, so can be found in the northern states of both coasts of the continental US. Sea plantain is so resilient it can thrive well below the high-tide line, getting swamped by seawater for multiple hours twice a day. It can handle being watered with saltwater and battered by waves. It also has a similar nutritional and medicinal profile to the other plantains, which means it's a powerhouse. But the best thing about it is its quality as food.I've put a lot of plantain in my mouth through the years — especially the common wild types, Plantago major and Plantago lanceolata, which I often chew up and apply to insect bites or other ski