As children in the 1960s/70s in a village on the Kent/East Sussex border we used to ‘ping’ [ribwort] plantain [Plantago lanceolata] heads at each other by picking one with a longish stem and wrapping the stem round itself then pulling the loop up sharply. Sometimes tried it with hare’s tails, but it wasn’t as good [Bristol, September 2013].

Images: main, abundantly naturalised, West Beach Local Nature Reserve, Littlehampton, West Sussex, September 2014; inset, vase on table in Giovanni’s Restaurant, Crewe, Cheshire, containing hare’s tail dyed yellow, wheat (Triticum aestivum), canary grass (Phalaris canariensis) some dyed red others undyed, and plastic opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) seed capsules, January 2024.