PLANT AGINACE^. (PLANTAIN FAMILT.) 423 



exserted filaments, aud fugacious 2-celled anthers. Ovary 2- (or in n. 5 falsely 

 3 _ 4-) celled, with 1 - several ovules in each cell. Style and long hairy stigma 

 siijgle, filiform. Capsule 2-celled, 2 - several-seeded, opening transversely, so 

 that the top falls off like a lid and the loose partition (which bears the peltate 

 seeds) falls away. Embryo straight, in fleshy albumen. — Leaves riljl)ed. 

 Flowers whitish, small, in a bracted spike or head, raised on a naked scape. 

 (The Latin name.) 



§ I. Stamens 4; flowers all perfect; corolla not closed over the fruit. 



* Flowers proterogi/nous, the style flrst projecting from the unopened corolla, the 

 anthers long-exserted after the corolla has opened ; seeds not hollowed on the 

 face {except in P. lanceolata). 



-I- Corolla glabrous; leaves strongly ribbed; perennial 



•*-*■ Ribs of the broad leave's rising from the midrib. 



1. P. COrdata, Lam. Tall, glabrous ; leaves heart-shaped or round-ovate 

 (3-8' long), long-petioled ; spike at length loosely flowered; bracts round- 

 ovate, fleshy; capsule 2-4-seeded. — Along streams, N. Y. to Minn., and 



south-ward. 



-i-t- •*-*• Ribs of the leaf free to the contracted base. 



2. P. major, L. (Commox Plantain.) Smooth or rather hairy, rarely 

 roughisli; leaves ovate, oblong, oval, or slightly heart-shaped, often toothed, 

 abruptly narrowed into a channelled petiole; spike dense, obtuse ; sepals round- 

 ovate or obovate ; capsule ovoid, circumscissile near the middle, 8- l8-seeded ; 

 seeds angled, reticulated. — Waysides and near dwellings everywhere. Doubt- 

 less introduced from Eu., but native from L. Superior aud N. Minn., northward. 



3. P. Rugelii, Decaisne. Leaves as in the last, but paler and thinner; 

 spikes long and thin, attenuate at the apex ; sepals oblong, acutely carinate • 

 capsules cylindraceous-oblong, circumscissile much below the middle, 4 - 9-seeded ; 

 seeds oval-oblong, not reticidated. (P. Kamtschatica, Gray, Man., not Cham.) 

 — Vt. to Minn., south to Ga. and Tex. 



4 P. eriopoda, Torr. Usually a mass of yelloivish wool at the base ; 

 leaves thickish, oblanceolate to obovate, with short stout petioles; spike dense or 

 loose; sepals and bract more or less scarious but not carinate; capsule ovoid, 

 never over 4-seeded. — Moist and saline soil; Red River valley, Minn., and 

 w^estward; also on the Lower St. Lawrence. 



P. lanceolAta, L. (Ribgrass. Ripplegrass. English Plantain.) 

 Mostly hairy; scape grooved-angled, at length much longer than the lanceo- 

 late or lance-oblong leaves, slender (9' -2° high) ; spike dense, at first capitate, 

 in age cylindrical; bract and sepals scarious, brownish; seeds 2, hollowed on 

 the fare. — Very common. (Xat. from Eu.) 



1- H- Corolla-tube externally pubescent; leaves linear or f I form, fleshy, indis- 

 tinctly ribbed ; seeds 2-4; nmritime, often woolly at base. 



5. P. decipiens, Barneoud. Annual, or sometimes biennial with a stout 

 rootstock, smootli, or the scape pubescent ; leaves flat or flattish and channelled, 

 erect, nearly as long as the scape (5-12'), acuminate; spike slender, rather 

 loose. (P. maritima, var. juncoides. Gray, Man.) — Salt marshes, Atlantic 

 coast, from Labrador to N. J. The characters distinguisliiug biennial suecv 

 men.s of this from the next are obscure. 



