392 PLANTAGINACE.E. Plantago. 



* Leaves comparatively broad, short-petioled or subsessile: stamens 4: ovules and seeds 1 or 2 in 

 eacli cell. 



P. Virginica, L. Small winter-aunual or fibrous-rooted biennial, soft-2:)ubescent or more 

 villous with spreading articulated hairs : leaves spatulate or obovate-oblong, entire or 

 repand-denticulate, thin, obsurely 3-5-uerved : scapes 2 to 6 inches high, slender : spike 

 mostly dense, and an inch or two long : bracts equalling or shorter than the calyx : sepals 

 ovate or oblong, more or less hairy on the back : corolla-lobes subcordate-ovate : substerilc 

 flowers widely open, Avith capillary filaments, style long-exserted (the style commonly ear- 

 lier), and large oval anthei-s : flowers of the fully fertile spikes with corolla remaining 

 closed, small anthers on short filaments, and short style not protruded. — Spec. i. 1 13 

 (Gronov. Virg. 16 ; Moris. Hist. iii. 259, sect. 8, t. 15, fig. 8) ; Michx. Tl. i. 94; Gray in 

 Pacif. K. Rep. iv. 117. P. Caroliniuna, Walt. Car. 84. P. purpurascens, Nutt. in Trans. 

 Am. Phil. Soc. 1. c. ; the stamiuate and substerile plant. — Sandy fields, &c., S. New Eng- 

 land and S. Illinois to Florida and Arizona. A depauperate form (pcrpusilla) has a filiform 

 scape an inch high, from an annual root, much exceeding the leaves, and 2-5-flowered : 

 Florida, Chapman. 



Var. longifolia. Coarser : leaves oblong-spatulate, tapering into a margined petiole, 

 often with strong salient teeth: scapes with the spike 5 to 12 inches long: flowers larger. — 

 P. purpurascens, Nutt. 1. c. P. occide?ttaIis, Decaisne in DC. 1. c. — Arkansas to S. Arizona. 

 (Adjacent Mex.) 



P. hirtella, HBK. Poot perennial, thick : leaves oblong-ovate or oblong-spatulate, gla- 

 brate, rather fleshy, entire or sparsely denticulate, 5-7-nerved, 4-10 inches long : scape and 

 long dense spike a foot or two high, stout, hirsute : flowers longer than in the preceding 

 (3 lines long), with corolla-lobes ovate, acute ; those of the fertile closed form with apex of 

 slender style commonly protruding and the anthers perhaps sterile. (Staminate and open- 

 flowered form, not yet seen from California.) — Nov. Gen. & Spec. ii. 229, t. 127 ; Uecaisne, 

 in UC. 1. c. 723. P. JIartwer/i, Decaisne, 1. c. 724. P. Urvillei, Delile, Cat. Hort. Monsp. ? 

 c& P. CandoUei, Papin ? P. Durvi/lei, var. Californica, Fisch. & Meyer, Ind. Sem. Petrop. 

 P. Kamtschatica, Hook. & Arn. Bot. Beech. ISO? P. Virfjinica, var. maxima, Gray, 

 Bot. Calif, i. 611. — Coast of California, from San Francisco Bay southward. (Mex., 

 Chili.) 



* * LeaA'es linear or filiform: flowers very small: stamens only 2: small and slender annuals, 

 minutely pubescent or nearly glabrous: the individuals having exseited stamens and style and 

 open corolla not rarely fully fruitful. 



■+— Spike short, thick, and dense, in fruit an inch long: mature capsule 2 lines long. 



P. JBigelovii, Gray. Mostly glabrous and green : leaves I j to 4 inches long, rather 

 fleshy, obtuse, entire, shorter than the scapes : mature capsule ovoid-oblong, half longer 

 than the calyx, 4-seeded : only form known fully fertile, with style conspicuously and the 

 two stamens slightly exserted from the open corolla. — Pacif. R. Rep. iv. 117, & Bot. Calif, 

 i. 612. — Saline marshes, W. California and Brit. Columbia, first coll. by Bigeloiv. 



+- -f— Spike filiform or slender, at lenccth sparse-flowered, and half-inch to three inches long: 

 capsule about a line long: leaves occasionally with a few denticulations or divergent lobes. 



P. pusilla, Nutt. Somewhat cinereous-puberulent : leaves about an inch long and half- 

 line wide : capsule short-ovoid, little exceeding the bract and calyx, 4-seeded : seeds elon- 

 gated-oblong. — Gen. i. 110, & Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. 1. c. (excl. syn.) ; Torr. Fl. 184, & Fl. 

 N. Y. ii. 16. P. eloncjata, Pursh, Fl. ii. 729, proves to be this, a bad name. P. linearifolia, 

 Muhl. Cat. 15 ? P. hihrida, Bart. Fl. Philad. & Fl. Am. Sept. iii. t. 98, fig. 1. P. Bigelovii, 

 Watson, Bot. King, 212, not Gray, a rather larger-flowered form. — Sandy or gravelly soil, 

 S. New York to "S'irginia, Utah, and Oregon. 



P. heteroph^Ua, Nutt. Greener or nearly glabrous, often taller, and with spikes 2 to 5 

 inches long: leaves sometimes 4 inches long and 1 or 2 lines wide : capsule conoidal-oblong 

 and at length considerably surpassing the bract and calyx, 10-28-seeded : seeds oblong, 

 usually angled by mutual pressure, obscurely rugose-pitted. — Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. n. 

 ser. V. 177 (char, imperfect) ; Gray, Man. 1. c. ; Chapm. Fl. 278. P. Caroliniana, Pursh, Fl. 

 i. 98 ? not Walt. P. pcrpusilla, Decaisne, in DC. 1. c. 697. P. Californica, Greene, Bull. 

 Calif. Acad. i. 123. — Low sandy ground, Perm, to Florida, Texas, and California. 



