Flea seed shells are the seed pods of several species of plantain, such as Plantago afra (synonym: Plantago psyllium). “Psyllium” has the Greek word for flea in it, hence the name. The effects of Indian psyllium were discovered in Europe at the end of the 18th century. They were first mentioned in the British Pharmacopoeia in 1914: as a laxative.
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