4. Corolla lobes less than 1 mm. long; bracts and sepals with definite keels; 



capsules ellipsoid (5) 



5(4). Capsules slenderly ellipsoid, about 4 mm. long, circumscissile far below 

 the middle; bracts triangular-lanceolate 3. P. Rugelii. 



5. Capsules ellipsoid, usually less than 4 mm. long, circumscissile near the 



middle; bracts broadly ovate 4. P. major. 



6(2). Bracts at base of spike not keeled nor clasping; corolla lobes spreading or 

 reflexed after flowering and bracts rigid, scarious with green or 

 purple midrib 5. P. insularis. 



6. Bracts at base of spike keeled and/ or clasping (7) 



7(6). Plant perennial, flowering in late summer; capsule usually 3-seeded 



6. P. hirtella. 



7. Plant annual, flowering in spring; capsule usually 2-seeded (8) 



8(7). Bracts 1-2.5 mm. long; corolla lobes 0.8-2.3 mm. long; mature seeds 

 oblong, 1.25-1.75 mm. long, 0.7-0.8 mm. wide, yellow-brown to 



black, deeply grooved ventrally, not transparent-margined 



7. P. virginica. 



8. Bracts 3-4.5 mm. long; corolla lobes 2-3 mm. long; mature seeds oval or 



oblong-oval, 2.4-2.8 mm. long, 1.3-1.8 mm. wide, bright-red to 

 reddish-black, shallowly concave ventrally, with pronounced trans- 

 parent margin 8. P. rhodosperma. 



9(3). Corolla lobes erect in age; capsule about twice as long as the calyx; seeds 

 10 to 30, somewhat asymmetrical 9. P. hybrida. 



9. Corolla lobes becoming reflexed in age; capsule slightly surpassing the calyx; 



seeds (2 to) 4 (to 8), symmetrical 10. P. elongata. 



1. Plantago lanceolata L. English plantain, ribwort. Fig. 721 A. 



Glabrous or more or less pubescent perennial or biennial; leaves narrowly 

 lanceolate to oblanceolate, acute at apex, long-tapering at the petiolar base, 

 strongly several-ribbed, to about 5 dm. long and 35 mm. wide, entire or re- 

 motely toothed, essentially glabrous or pubescent beneath; scapes exceeding the 

 leaves, channeled, commonly strigose above; spikes very dense, ovoid when young 

 to long-cylindric and to 1 dm. long and 8 mm. thick when mature; bracts broadly 

 ovate, scarious, with a narrow herbaceous center and abruptly long-acuminate 

 hyaline tip, conspicuously surpassing the calyx; outer 2 sepals united into a broadly 

 obovate truncate lamina with 2 midveins, the inner sepals ovate; corolla lobes 

 ovate, acute, with a prominent brown midrib, 2-3 mm. long, usually spreading; 

 capsule ellipsoid, obtuse, 3-4 mm. long, circumscissile near the base; seeds 2, 

 black, semiellipsoid, 2-3 mm. long, cymbiform. 



A common weed of lawns, roadsides, fields and waste places, also in wet soils 

 on edge of lakes, ponds and along streams, and in seepage about springs, through- 

 out much of the U.S. and Can.; introd. from the Old World. 



2. Plantago eriopoda Torr. 



Perennial; rootstock stout, sometimes elongate, the crown more or less long- 

 villous with rust-colored hairs among the old leaf bases; leaves oblong-lanceolate 

 to elliptic or oblanceolate, acute, 6-25 cm. long, 3- to 9-nerved, narrowed to a 

 winged petiole about one half the length of the blade, glabrous and somewhat 

 leathery; spikes sparsely pubescent with septate hairs, loosely flowered, 8-18 cm. 

 long; bracts broadly ovate to rounded, the narrow scarious margins sometimes 

 ciliolate or erose, not keeled; sepals oval, scarious-margined, 2-2.5 mm. long; 

 corolla lobes ovate, 1-2 mm. long, often unsymmetrical; style much-exserted, as 

 long as or longer than the stamens; capsule broadly conical or ovoid, about 3 



1534 



