444 A FLORA OF MANILA ; 
On ledges along small streams, Masambong, and in gardens, Singalon, 
fl. Nov.—Dec.; widely distributed in the Philippines. An endemic form 
of the Malayan H. reptans T. And. 
16. BLECHUM P. Browne 
Branched herbs, glabrous or hairy, with entire leaves. Flowers small, 
solitary or in pairs in the axils of large foliaceous bracts, arranged in 
dense terminal spikes. Calyx 5-parted, the segments narrow. CGorolla-tube 
slender, straight or curved, somewhat enlarged above, the limb of 5, spread- 
ing, subequal lobes. Stamens 4, in 2 pairs, inserted above the middle of the 
corolla-tube. Ovules 3 to many in each cell. Capsules ovate to orbicular, 
base shortly contracted. Seeds usually many. 
Species. 4 or more in tropical America, 1 introduced in the Philippines 
and in some other tropical countries. : : 
1. B. BROWNEI Juss. 
An erect or ascending herb, the stems often prostrate and rooting 
below, 20 to 50 cm high, sparingly hairy or nearly glabrous. Leaves thin, 
ovate, 5 to 10 cm long, entire or nearly so, acute, base decurrent-acuminate. 
Inflorescence terminal, spike-like, the flowers mostly in pairs, each pair 
subtended by a leaf-like, ovate, persistent, 1 to 1.5 cm long bract and two 
smaller bracteoles. Flowers small, white. Calyx 4 to 5 mm long, hairy, 
5-lobed, the lobes linear. Corolla white, tubular, hairy, slightly curved, 
about 1.3 cm long, slightly exserted from the bracts. Capsule ovoid, 
acuminate, somewhat compressed, about 6 mm long. 
In waste places, roadsides, etc., common, fl. all the year; widely distrib- 
uted in the Philippines. A native of tropical America, now naturalized 
in the Philippines, Formosa, Marianne Islands, etc. 
130. PLANTAGINACEAE (PLANTAIN FAMILY) 
Herbs with usually radical leaves, the flowers small, greenish, often 
dimorphous, in spicate scapes. Sepals 4, imbricate in bud, persistent. Co- 
rolla hypogynous, salver-slaped, scarious, the lobes 4, imbricate in bud. 
Stamens 4, on the corolla-tube; filaments slender, inflexed in bud, persistent; 
anthers large, pendulous, versatile. Ovary free, 2- to 4-celled; style fili- 
form, with 2 lines of stigmatic hairs; ovules solitary and basal, or several. 
Fruit a 1- to 4-celled capsule, circumsciss, thin, with 1 or more seeds. 
Seeds small, usually peltate, testa thin, albumen fleshy; embryo cylindric, 
transverse. 
Genera 3, species over 200, represented in the Philippines only by the 
following introduced genus and species. 
PLANTAGO Linnaeus 
Characters of the Family as given above. (The Latin name.) 
1. P. Mason L. Lantin (Sp.-Fil., corruption of Sp. llanten); Plantain. 
A perennial herb, the leaves all radical, petioled, entire or obscurely 
toothed, oblong or oblong-ovate, 5 to 10 cm long, about 5-nerved, the petiole 
often as long as the leaf-blade. Spikes 6 to 12 cm long, erect, slender, the 
flowers usually crowded, the bracts small. Corolla small, the lobes spread- 
ing or reflexed. Capsules ovoid, about 3 mm long. Seed 8 to 16, angular. 
(Fl. Filip. pl. 20, P. media.) 
Occasional in gardens, rarely in waste places, fl. Jan—March. Introduced 
from Europe by the Spaniards, now naturalized in some localities in Luzon. 
