What is the difference between plantain and lysimachia? A quick guide to telling them apart

Both plantain and lysimachia are Chinese medicinal herbs, and their effects are similar in some ways, which makes them easy to confuse. So, what is the difference between plantain and lysimachia?

1. What is the difference between plantain and lysimachia?

1. Different families and genera: plantain is the tender stems and leaves of Plantago, in the Plantaginaceae family, while lysimachia is the whole herb of Lysimachia christinae, in the Primulaceae family, genus Lysimachia;

2. Different forms: plantain leaves are oval, while lysimachia leaves are round, like copper coins;

3. Different effects: plantain has diuretic, cough-relieving, phlegm-resolving and heat-clearing effects, while lysimachia, although it can also promote urination, also has the effect of expelling stones.

2. Cultivation techniques for plantain

1. Sowing

Choose moist, fairly fertile sandy soil, apply 30000~45000kg of base fertilizer per hectare, then plow. Before sowing, mix the seeds with fine sand and rub them lightly to remove the oil on the outside of the seeds, which helps the seeds germinate. In northern China, sow from the end of March to mid-April or in late October. For drilling, open furrows 20~30cm apart and 1~1.5cm deep, sow the seeds evenly into the furrows, cover with soil and press lightly, water, and keep the soil moist; seedlings emerge about 10 days after sowing.

2. Field management

Weeding: plantain grows slowly after emergence and is easily suppressed by weeds, so weeds should be removed promptly at the seedling stage; weeding is done together with loosening the soil, generally 3~4 times a year. Thin the seedlings when they are 3~5cm tall; for drilling, leave plants 10~15cm apart.

Fertilizing: plantain likes fertilizer; after fertilizing, the leaves grow more, are vigorous and more resistant, the spikes are more numerous and longer, and the yield is higher. The first fertilizing is in May, applying 22500kg of dilute human and animal manure water per hectare to strengthen its growth; the second is in early July, when plantain enters the young spike differentiation stage and some young spikes emerge from the leaf axils; at this time, control nitrogen and supplement phosphorus, potassium, boron fertilizer and hormones, etc., to create conditions for flowering and seed setting.

3. Pest and disease control

During the heading stage of plantain, drainage ditches must be cleared early to prevent waterlogging and root rot. After the rows close, do not carry out intertillage or loosen the soil, otherwise root damage and soil waterlogging will cause root rot. Before and after heading of plantain, investigation should be strengthened; when central diseased plants are found, remove them promptly and burn them in a centralized way to control the spread of plantain powdery mildew, spike blight, brown spot, southern blight and so on, and spray the flower spikes with 150g of 50% carbendazim mixed with 30~40kg of water, once every 4~5 days, spraying 3~5 times in a row to prevent the bacteria from infecting the spikes.

4. Harvest

Plantain can be harvested when the husks of the fruits at the lower part of the spike have just turned light brown, the husks of the fruits in the middle have just turned yellow, and the fruits at the upper part have finished flowering. The heading stage of plantain is fairly long, and the spikes that head first mature early, so harvest in batches, cutting the spikes once every 3~5 days and finishing cutting the spikes within half a month. It is best to harvest in the morning or on cloudy days to prevent fruit splitting and seed shattering. Cut off the mature spikes with a knife and dry them on a drying yard until the fruits split and the seeds fall out. After drying, rub out the seeds and winnow away impurities. Store the dried seeds in a dry place.

Plantain and lysimachia are still quite easy to tell apart by appearance; the two have similar effects, but also differences.