a bit off track, but rattlesnake plantain has such extraordinary looking leaf veins.
I would be nearly as excited as finding a rattlesnake if I had a chance to iNat it!
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Just a plant? Rattlesnake plantains are beautiful!
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Downy rattlesnake plantain is the most-observed species in my home state that I personally have never seen… it’s my white whale and I will post the first one I see even if I’m the 32698574th person to observe the same plant. lol
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Don’t worry, I also have zero success finding them!
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(Here I was assuming that rattlesnake plantain was a species in the genus Plantago and trying to understand why people would be getting so excited. I admittedly have a soft spot for Plantago, but finding one is not normally the highlight of an outing. Pretty plant – there is a notable resemblance in overall shape that might explain the shared common name, but Goodyera is definitely more impressive).
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So - why does the orchid think it is a plantain - and why does the not-a-plantain think it is a rattlesnake?
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Because English is a strange language.
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To be fair, the leaves are a similar size, shape, and color to Plantago major, just with beautiful white markings.
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I know, right? That’s why I like to point it out when I spot one!
I’ve heard three different stories about that:
- The venation on the leaves resembles the scales on snake skin.
- The flower/fruit stalks resemble the snake’s rattle.
I can kind of see that resemblance:
- Native Americans reportedly used it to treat snake bites. We have a lot of plants here with similar names - rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium), rattlesnake root (Nabalus formerly Prenanthes spp.), rattlesnake weed (Hieracium venosum) etc. I think all of these were used in that way and that might be another source of their names.
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Prenanthes? Like, edible Prenanthes?
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There used to be a whole lot of plants in that genus. Wikipedia lists a bunch of genera including Lactuca. I don’t think Nabalus was ever used for food though apparently it was used as a medicinal plant by Native Americans (including treating snake bites, hence the common name referencing rattlesnakes).
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It’s a beautiful plant, but finding a rattlesnake, especially if it’s rattling at you, really gets your heart pumping… ;-)
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