Plantain?
- Thread starter JoeWells
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ZenHerper
Well-Known Member
Not plantain.
Wide and thin versions of plantain have vertical 'ribs':
Wild lettuces come up this time of year. The young leaves are fuzzy and tender. They get really tough and spiny as the summer comes on (to protect the flowers from overgrazing):
Wide and thin versions of plantain have vertical 'ribs':
Wild lettuces come up this time of year. The young leaves are fuzzy and tender. They get really tough and spiny as the summer comes on (to protect the flowers from overgrazing):
ZenHerper
Well-Known Member
This time of year the immature wide leafed plantain lies very flat:
This is a mature thin leafed plant, but gives you a sense of what the leaves are like:
They can grow in well-drained containers (don't like their roots to sit in water), so gather some seed heads in the fall.
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There is some debate about the safety of Lactuca species, but a young, soft leaf as an addition to a varied weekly diet is fine. My guess is that toxicity is related to animals eating entire stalks full of the milky sap.
This is a mature thin leafed plant, but gives you a sense of what the leaves are like:
They can grow in well-drained containers (don't like their roots to sit in water), so gather some seed heads in the fall.
******
There is some debate about the safety of Lactuca species, but a young, soft leaf as an addition to a varied weekly diet is fine. My guess is that toxicity is related to animals eating entire stalks full of the milky sap.
This is not plantain, but it is good tortoise food. That is one of the many that I can't keep the name straight, but I've been feeding small amounts of that one to all of my tortoises for decades.
My little guy likes the thin leaf plantain but only grazes a little of it at a time. Then sniffs every other blade of whatever to find something he may want to sample. I love watching it.
I think it's prickly lettuce.
Thanks Yvonne. If I were to uproot a bunch of them would I be able to transplant them at my house? Not sure if that would work
Yea, I was told Russians go nuts for plantain. It probably varies from tort to tort though as mine really likes some recommended plants and won’t touch others. Gotta try them all though
ALL of my tortoises love both types of plantain. They seem to favor the narrow leaf type, but they devour both types.
Saphire sniffs everything first before he'll eat it...even if he loves that type of plant. You would think a great enclosure outside would be a tortoise smorgasbord....but no. I think since he's a vegan he's checking for bugs and their dirt. I've watched him do the sniff test first for 12 years.
Echo 1
New Member
Might be Bristly Ox-tongue?
Just looked that up on tortoise table. It is very similar. I’ll go back and check if there’s any flowers or buds soon. Thanks
You can eat both. I've read some things about English Plantain but Both are really high in tannic acid so they need to have a couple of sauna baths followed by ice water. Plantain starts growing again in the spring with a little seed flower pod. Supposedly those little fresh pods taste similar to broccoli...
Sauna baths? I take it that’s for human consumption? When I grow some maybe it can be a good addition to both of our diets. Thanks Cathie
Well...there is a lot of wild plants we can eat...that's also good tortoise food. You have to know how to get rid of the excess tanins in some of them.
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