Day 272: Here is a plant which is found throughout the United States, is recognized by almost everyone (especially the under-10 crowd), and yet few can actually put a name on it. As kids, we delighted in popping our classmates with the flowering points, launching them by folding the stem over itself near the base and sliding the bend quickly and firmly toward the head, firing it off like an arrow from a bow. You could get pretty good distance if the stalk was young and supple; the stiffer stems of older plants tended to be brittle and oftentimes would break before the head separated. Accuracy was never an issue. It was good enough to plick any bystander, because the action nearly always instigated a quick hunt for more "shooters," as we called them in our ignorance of their true name. Plantago lanceolata bears the common names Buckhorn or English Plaintain, but I was well into adulthood before I heard either term. Even now, this weed makes me smile, and I'm not beyond popping a few at nothing in particular as I walk back from my mailbox.
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