“Plantago. ` METRANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 4421 
PLANTAGO. Schreb. Gen. N. 186. 
Calyx four-cleft. Corol four-cleft, with border reflexed. Stamina: 
very long. Capsule superior, two-celled, cut perk ahem 
1. P. Ispaghula, R.— Fleming in Asiat. Res. xi. 174. 
Annual, caulescent. Leaves Duicor-Maocsoler, three-nerved, slightly 
woolly. ^ Peduncles axillary, naked, simple, length of the leaves; 
heads cylindric. Capsules two-celled. 
Ispagool, the Hindee and Persian name, and that by which it is 
most generally known in Bengal and on the coast of Coromandel. 
Native place uncertain, but it is cultivated during the cool season. 
Root ramous, annual.—Stem, if any, very short, soon dividing 
into three or four ascending, round, villous branches, which are a few 
inches in length.— Leaves alternate, linear-lanceolate, three-nerved, 
luxuriant, in young plants remotely denticulate, somewhat woolly, to- 
ward the base channelled, and stem-clasping ; length from six to eight 
inches by a quarter or half an inch broad.— Peduncles axillary, solitary, 
naked, erect, round, a little villous, the length of the leaves.—Spikes 
solitary, terminal, before the flowers expand ovate, afterwards cylin- 
dric ; when in seed about an inch or an inch and a half long and erect. 
— Flowers numerous, imbricated, small, dull, white, withering.— 
Bractes one-flowered, ovate, concave, with the keel green, and the 
sides membranaceous.—Calyr four-leaved. Leaflets oblong, ovate, 
with broad membranaceous margins.—Corol. Tube gibbous. Seg- 
ments ovate, acute.— Filaments oblong, two-celled, four, much larger 
than the segments of the corol.— Germ oblong, two-celled, with one 
seed in each, attached to the middle of the partition. Style rather 
longer than the corol. Stigma subulate, villous.—Capsu/e circum- 
scissa, ovate, two-celled.— Seeds solitary, ovate-elliptic, convex on : 
the outside ; concave on the inner. Integument single, rather thick, 
smooth, tough, and brown.—Perisperm conform to the seed.— Em- 
bryo sub-cylindric, erect. Cotyledon long, linear. Radicle inferior, 
one-fourth the length of the cotyledon. 
Obs. From the seeds a mucilaginous drink is prepared, and often 
