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Plantago maritima; photograph (c) Barry Stewart, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Barry Stewart, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-09-17

Plantago maritima L.

Sea plantain; Seaside plantain; Goosetongue; Sea kemp

Plantaginaceae · Denmark, Finland +77

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Plantago maritima, photograph (c) Mitch Van Dyke, some rights reserved (CC BY)Plantago maritima, photograph (c) Mitch Van Dyke, some rights reserved (CC BY)Plantago maritima, photograph (c) Jack Alcorn, some rights reserved (CC BY)Plantago maritima, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedPlantago maritima, photograph (c) Andreas Schneider, some rights reserved (CC BY)Plantago maritima, photograph (c) Sophie Wolvin, some rights reserved (CC BY) 58 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-4.2°C
Record low -11.8 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
19°C
Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
942mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
3–36DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Plantago maritima, the sea plantain, seaside plantain or goose tongue, is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae. It has a subcosmopolitan distribution in temperate and Arctic regions, native to most of Europe, northwest Africa, northern and central Asia, northern North America, and southern South America.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Plantago maritima", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Plantago

Plantago is a genus of about 200 species of flowering plants in the family Plantaginaceae, commonly called plantains or fleaworts. The common name plantain is shared with the unrelated cooking plantain. Most are herbaceous plants, though a few are subshrubs growing to 60 centimetres tall.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Plantago", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (705 mm of 960 mm) takes 8 months, July to January and March. Mean temperature moves 12.9 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: January to July and September.

Rain

960 mm in the median year at the habitat, 705 mm of it July to January and March. Wettest month October at 105 mm, driest month April at 57 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 658 mm to 2,026 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 942 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 960 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 3 to 36 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 1, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -4.2 °C, the absolute minimum -11.8 °C, 1,685 frost nights in 44 years, 38.3 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.1 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 1.1 °C in February (across the grid cells of the range -6.2 °C to 6.2 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 18.5 °C in August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -4.2 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 61 to 66% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -13 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Plantago maritima through the yearWarmest month August, mean daily high 19 °C; coldest month February, mean nightly low 1.1 °C; 960 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost36.1° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-11.8° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 3–36RH 61–66%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 505 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C5 / -1–105 / -1–107 / 1–1110 / 5–1313 / 9–1716 / 12–1918 / 15–2219 / 15–2116 / 13–1912 / 8–159 / 3–126 / 0–10
Night °C1 / -6–61 / -6–63 / -4–75 / 0–88 / 4–1011 / 8–1313 / 11–1514 / 11–1612 / 8–148 / 4–115 / -1–92 / -5–7
Rain mm88 / 53–25266 / 41–20671 / 43–17757 / 36–13361 / 40–10871 / 44–10476 / 21–10383 / 26–12484 / 49–159105 / 61–194102 / 66–22596 / 59–262
DLI4 / 1–119 / 5–1716 / 13–2527 / 24–3234 / 31–3836 / 32–4135 / 29–4328 / 23–3819 / 14–2910 / 6–195 / 2–123 / 1–9
RH %66 / 62–7064 / 61–6863 / 60–6562 / 60–6461 / 58–6562 / 59–6663 / 59–6863 / 61–6863 / 62–6664 / 62–6765 / 62–6966 / 62–70
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 505 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (637 records in those cells; 35 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 947:3561 (42.625, -1.925). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -11.8 °C, 1st-percentile night -4.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.1 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 505 distinct grid cells holding 637 of the 677 in-range records (35 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 947:3561 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 42.50_-1.875, lapse-corrected -13 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 484 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeDenmark, Finland, Føroyar, Great Britain, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Corse, France, Portugal, Sardegna, Spain, Albania, Italy, Romania, Sicilia, Turkey-in-Europe, Yugoslavia, Belarus, Baltic States, Krym, Central European Russia, East European Russia, North European Russia, South European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Ukraine, Algeria, Morocco, Kirgizistan, Turkmenistan, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Afghanistan, Cyprus, Iran, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine, Turkey, Aleutian Is., Alaska, Greenland, Nunavut, Northwest Territories, Yukon, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Labrador, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward I., Québec, Oregon, Washington, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode I., California, Virginia, Argentina South, Argentina Northwest, Chile South · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker58.251, 11.465 · in the densest population, 256 records (37% of those in range)
Kew's description“perennial” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 685 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 637 of them in the land cells it reads, of 677 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 345 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 117 km away. 6 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 8 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 685 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Plantago maritima, photograph 1did not loadPlantago maritima, photograph 2did not loadPlantago maritima, photograph 3did not loadPlantago maritima, photograph 4did not loadPlantago maritima, photograph 5did not loadPlantago maritima, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Mitch Van Dyke, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Jack Alcorn, some rights reserved (CC BY); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0; (c) Andreas Schneider, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Sophie Wolvin, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Lysimachia maritima Lysimachia maritima Sea-milkwort Photo: CC BY, Dustin SniderPuccinellia maritima Puccinellia maritima Common saltmarsh-grass Photo: CC BY, Matthew FloodCochlearia officinalis Cochlearia officinalis Common scurvygrass Photo: CC BY, Rosy ThomsonHonckenya peploides Honckenya peploides Sea sandwort Photo: CC0, author not statedRuppia maritima Ruppia maritima Beaked tasselweed Photo: CC BY, Matt PelikanTripolium pannonicum Tripolium pannonicum Sea starwort Photo: CC BY, arthur_haendler

Other Plantago 51 in the reference

Plantago afra Plantago afra Glandular plantain Photo: CC BY, Duarte FradePlantago albicans Plantago albicans Plantaginaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Collados AnaPlantago alpina Plantago alpina Alpine Plantain Photo: CC BY, Louis AuregliaPlantago altissima Plantago altissima Plantaginaceae Photo: CC BY, Ljaž Plantago antarctica Plantaginaceae Plantago arborescens Plantago arborescens Plantaginaceae Photo: CC BY, Vítor JorgePlantago arenaria Plantago arenaria Branched plantain Photo: CC BY, bernhard_hillerPlantago argentea Plantago argentea Plantaginaceae Photo: CC BY, Paolo ZuccaPlantago aristata Plantago aristata Bracted plantain Photo: CC0, author not statedPlantago asiatica Plantago asiatica Asian plantain Photo: CC0, author not statedPlantago atrata Plantago atrata Mountain Plantain Photo: CC BY, Maria KohanovskayaPlantago australis Plantago australis Mexican plantain Photo: CC BY, Pluto Hooper all 52 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Plantago canaliculata; Plantago juncoides var. juncoides; Plantago loeflingii; Plantago maritima f. maritima; Plantago maritima var. maritima and 1 more. (GBIF Backbone)

Under another author Plantago coronopus Sauss. is an older name of this species, not Plantago coronopus, a species of the reference; Plantago subulata Roth is an older name of this species, not Plantago subulata, a species of the reference. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Plantaginaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Denmark, Finland, Føroyar +76
Wild records
685 in range · 345 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF occurrence search API; 16 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (5 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 11 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 42.50_-1.875, lapse-corrected -13 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22IPNI and POWO linked by Kew's number for Plantago maritima L. (the item's: IPNI 685398-1, POWO 30063012-2)
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 11 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…