PLANTAGINACE^E. 



Nat. syst. ed. 2. p. 267. 



PLANTAGO. 



Flowers spiked or capitate. Calyx 4-leaved. Corolla hypo- 

 crateriform, membranous, with a 4-parted spreading limb. Sta- 

 mens 4, long and flaccid. Style simple ; stigma unilateral. Cap- 

 sule cut round spuriously, 2-celled, few or many-seeded. 



967. P. Ispaghula Fleming in As. research, xi. 174. Roxb. 

 ji. ind. i. 404. — Cultivated in India ; probably a native of Persia. 



Royle. 



An annual plant. Stem, if any, very short, soon dividing into 3 or 4 

 ascending, round, villous branches, which are a few inches in length. 

 Leaves alternate, linear-lanceolate, 3-nerved, luxuriant in young plants, 

 remotely denticulate, somewhat woolly, towards the base channelled, 

 and amplexicaul, 6 to 8 inches long, by a { or \ 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 cylindrical, when in seed about 1 inch or 1a 

 inch long and erect. Flowers numerous, imbricated, small, dull, white, 

 withering. Bractes 1-flowered, ovate, concave, with the keel green, 

 and the sides membranaceous. Calyx 4-leaved ; sepals oblong, ovate, 

 with broad membranaceous margins. Corolla with a gibbous tube, and 

 ovate, acute segments. Roxb. — A mucilaginous drink is prepared from 

 the seeds in India, and often prescribed by European practitioners in 

 India, when emollients are wanted. It also forms part of the native 

 Materia medica. 



968. P. Psyllium Linn. sp. 167. Willd. i. 650. R. and S. 

 iii. 145. — Southern parts of Europe and Barbary. 



An annual. Stems diffuse, villous, much branched. Leaves linear, 

 narrow, ciliated, almost smooth, acute, recurved, very little toothed ; 

 the upper often in whorls of 3 or 4. Peduncles slender, filiform, 

 downy, at least as long as the leaves. Spikes small, short, capitate, 

 almost smooth, not leafy, bracteate ; the two lower bracts almost the 

 length of the spikes, downy, the other shorter and more dilated. — The 

 seeds are peculiarly mucilaginous, and have been made into demulcent 

 drinks as a good substitute for linseed or marsh mallows. The two 

 following have been employed for the same purpose. 



969. P. arenaria W. and K. 



970. P. Cynops L. 



971. The common perennial Ribgrass P. lanceolata L. has 

 rather bitter astringent leaves and roots, and has been used with 

 some other species as an expectorant and vulnerary, but the 

 properties do not appear to be of any importance. 



473 



