Vol. III.] 



PLANTAIN FAMILY. 



209 



8. Plantago maritima L. Sea or Seaside Plantain 



Plantago marititna L. Sp. PI. 114. 1753. 

 Planlago decipiens Bameoud, Mon. Plantag. 16. 1845. 

 Annual, biennial, or perennial, fleshy; root- 

 stock stout or slender, sometimes with tufts of 

 whitish hairs among the bases of the leaves. 

 Leaves linear, glabrous, very obscurely nerved, 

 sessile, or narrowed into short margined petioles, 

 2'-io' long, entire, or with a very few small teeth, 

 i"-2',2" wide; scapes slender, more or less pubes- 

 cent, longer than or equalling the leaves; spikes 

 dense, linear-cylindric, blunt, i'-5' long; flowers 

 perfect; sepals ovate-lanceolate to nearh- orbicular, 

 green, somewhat keeled; corolla pubescent with- 

 out, its lobes spreading; pyxis ovoid-oblong, ob- 

 tuse, 2-4-seeded, circumscissile at about the mid- 

 dle, nearly twice as long as the calyx; seeds nearly 

 flat on the face. 



In salt marslies and on sea-shores, Labrador to New 

 Jersey, and on the Pacific Coast from Alaska to Califor- 

 nia. Also on the coasts of Europe and .Asia. Called 

 also Buckshorn, Gibbals, Sea Kemps. June-Sept. 



9. Plantago Purshii R. & S. Pursh's Plantain. (Fig. 3386.) 



Plantago Ptirshii R. & S. Syst. 3: 120. 1818. 

 Planlago gnaplialioides Nutt. Gen. i: 100. 1S18. 

 Plantago Patagonica var. gnaplialioides A. Gray, 



Man. Ed. 2, 269. 1856. 



Annual, woolly or silky all over, pale green; 

 scapes slender, ^'-\^' tall, longer than the 

 leaves. Leaves ascending, linear, acute or 

 acuminate at the apex, narrowed into margined 

 petioles, 1-3 -nerved, i>^"-4" wide, entire, or 

 very rarely with a few small teeth; spikes very 

 dense, cylindric, obtuse, i'-5' long, about 3" 

 in diameter, exceedingly woolly; bracts rigid, 

 equalling or slightly exceeding the flowers; 

 flowers perfect but heterogonous, many of them 

 cleistogamous; sepals oblong, obtuse, scarious- 

 margined; corolla-lobes broadly ovate, spread- 

 ing; stamens 4; pyxis oblong, obtuse, i^'4"-long, 

 little exceeding the calyx, 2-seeded, circumscis- 

 sile at about the middle; seeds convex on the 

 back, deeply concave on the face. 



On dry plains and prairies, Illinois and western 

 Ontario to British Columbia, south to Texas and 

 northern Mexico. May-Aug.|BEM __^_ 



10. Plantago aristata Michx. Large- 



bracted Plantain. (Fig. 3387.) 



Plantago aristata Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. I: 95. 1S03. 

 Plantago Patagonica var. aristata A. Gray, Man. Ed. 



2, 269. 1856. 



Annual, dark green, villous, or glabrate; scapes 

 stout, erect, 6'-iS' tall, exceeding the leaves. 

 Leaves linear, acuminate at the apex, entire, nar- 

 rowed into slender petioles, sometimes prominently 

 3-ribbed, i|^"-4" wide; spikes very dense, cylin- 

 dric, I '-6' long, pubescent but not woolly; bracts 

 puberulent, linear, elongated, ascending, the lower 

 often lo times as long as the flowers; flowers very 

 similar to those of the preceding species; pyxis 2- 

 seeded; the seeds concave on the face. 



On dry plains and prairies, Illinois to Louisiana and 

 Texas, west to British Columbia and New Mexico. Also 

 widely adventive as a weed in the eastern States from 

 Maine to Georgia, its eastern natural limits now diffi- 

 cult to determine. May-Oct. 



14 



