406 PLANTAGINACEAE. 



away from the twigs in drying, 10 cm. long or less, acuminate at the apex, 

 narrowed at the base, the slender midvein prominent, the lateral venation ob- 

 scure, the petioles 1-2 em. long; peduncles slender, 1-3 cm. long; calyx-seg- 

 ments broadly ovate, subulate-tipped, about 3 mm. long, ciliolate; corolla about 

 2 cm. long, yellow, purple-blotched, or the lip purple within; drupe pointed, 

 yellow, 1-1.5 em. long. 



Scrub-lands and palmetto-lands, Great Bahama, South Caicos, Grand Turk : 

 Cayman Islands; Cuba to Tortola and Barbadoes ; Curasao; Aruba ; Guiana. Bontia. 

 Erroneously called Olive. 



Order 5. PLANTAGINALES. 



Only the following family: 



Family 1. PLANTAGINACEAE Lindl. 



Plantain Family. 



Herbs, with basal, or, in the caulescent species, opposite or alternate 

 leaves, and small perfect polygamous or monoecious flowers, bracteolate 

 in spikes or heads, or rarely solitary. Calyx 4-parted, inferior, persistent, 

 the segments imbricated. Corolla hypogynous, scarious or membranous, 

 mostly mareescent, 4-lobed. Stamens 4 or 2 (only 1 in an Andean genus), 

 inserted on the tube or throat of the corolla; filaments filiform, exserted or 

 included; anthers versatile, 2-celled, the sacs longitudinally dehiscent. 

 Ovary sessile, superior, 1-2-celled, or falsely 3 4-celled. Style Aliform, 

 simple, mostly longitudinally stigmatic. Ovules 1-several in each cavity of 

 the ovary, peltate, amphitropous. Fruit a pyxis, circumscissile at or below 

 the middle, or an indehiscent nutlet. Seeds 1-several in each cavity of the 

 fruit; endosperm fleshy; cotyledons narrow; radicle short, mostly straight. 

 Three genera and over 225 species, of wide distribution. 



1. PLANTAGO L. Sp. PI. 112. 1753. 



Leafy-stemmed, short-stemmed or acaulescent herbs, with opposite, alter- 

 nate or basal leaves, bearing axillary or terminal spikes or heads of small 

 greenish or purplish flowers (flowers solitary in a few exotic species). Calyx- 

 segments equal, or two of them larger. Corolla salverform, the tube cylindric, 

 or constricted at the throat, the limb spreading in anthesis, erect, spreading or 

 reliexed in fruit, 4-lobed or 4-parted. Stamens 4 or 2. Ovary 2-celled, or 

 falsely 3-4-celled; ovules 1-several in each cavity. Fruit a membranous pyxis, 

 mostly 2-celled. Seeds various, sometimes hollowed out on the inner side. 

 [The Latin name.] Over 200 species, of wide geographic distribution. Type 

 species: Plantago major L. The following are acaulescent weeds. 



Leaves ovate; seeds many. 1. P. major. 



Leaves oblong-lanceolate ; seeds 2. 2. P. lanceolata. 



1. Plantago major L. Sp. PI. 112. 1753. 



Perennial, glabrous or pubescent; rootstock short, thick, erect. Leaves 

 long-petioled, mostly ovate, entire, or coarsely dentate, 2.5-25 cm. long, 3-11- 

 ribbed ; scapes 0.5-9 dm. high ; spike linear-cylindric, usually dense, com- 

 monly blunt, 5-25 cm. long, 6-8 mm. thick; flowers perfect, proterogynous; 

 sepals broadly ovate to obovate, scarious margined, one-half to two-thirds as 

 long as the obtuse or subacute, 5-16-seeded pyxis; stamens 4. 



Roadsides and waste places, Abaco, Great Bahama, Andros and New Providence : 

 Bermuda ; United States ; West Indies ; Central and South America. Naturalized 

 from the Old World. Gkeatee Plantain. 



