Indian plantago

Plantago Seed, Psyllium seed flea seed. Seed from Plantago psyllium L. or P. arenaria Waldst.. Kit. (P. ramosa Asch.) (Spanish or French psyllium seed) Or of P. ovata Forsk. (blond or Indian plantago seed), Plantagirta-ceae. Review BeMiller in Industrial Gums. R. L. Whistler, Ed. (Academic Press, New York, 2nd ed., 1973) pp 345-354. 

Common/vernacular names Black psyllium (P. indica), blond psyllium, ispaghula, ispa-gol, spogel, Indian plantago (P. ovata), brown psyllium, French psyllium, Spanish psylhum (P. psyllium, P. indica), plantago plantain. P. arenaria is accepted in the taxonomic literature as the correct name for P. psyllium (ambiguous name) and P. indica (illegitimate name) however, both names are still used in commercial trade over P. arenaria. 

PO062 Patel, R. B., C. G. Rana, M. R. Patel, PO073 H. K. Dhyani, and H. V. Chauhan. Chromatographic screening of proteins of seeds of Plantago ovata Forsk. Indian Drugs Pharm Ind 1981 16 3-5. 

Atal, C. K., K. K. Kapoor, and H. H. Siddiqui. Studies on Indian seed oils. Part I. Preliminary screening of li-noleic acid rich oils. Indian J Pharmacy 1964 26 163-164-Siddiqui, H. H., K. K. Kapoor, and C. K. Atal. Studies on Indian seed oils. Part II. Effect of Plantago ovata embryo oil on raised serum cholesterol levels in rabbits. Indian J Pharmacy 1964 26 1663-1664. 

Plantago ispaghula, or Light Indian Psyllium, is cultivated in India. Seeds are boatshaped, with one end sharper than the other, and grey-brown in colour, A small brown spot is a feature of the convex side. Transparent mucilage surrounds the seeds when kept in water. 

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