Che Qian Cao

Plantago asiatica is a low-growing perennial rosette herb in the Plantaginaceae family, native to East Asia and widespread across China, Japan, Korea, and the Russian Far East in moist grasslands, roadsides, and disturbed ground. From a short fibrous-rooted crown emerges a basal rosette of ovate to broadly elliptic, long-petioled leaves 4-15 cm long, with 5-7 prominent parallel veins and an entire to slightly wavy margin. Slender erect leafless flowering scapes 10-30 cm tall bear narrow cylindrical spikes of tiny inconspicuous greenish-white wind-pollinated flowers from late spring through autumn. The fruit is a small two-celled pyxis (a capsule that opens by a lid) containing 4-9 minute dark-brown seeds that become mucilaginous when wet. It closely resembles, and is often confused with, the European Plantago major.