PLANTAGINACEM 2G1 



1-4-celled capsule, dehiscing oircumBoiasilely, membranous, l-or-more» 

 led. Seeds usually peltate; testa thin, mucilaginous, albumen 

 fleshy; embryo cylindric, transverse, radicle inferior.— Species oyer 

 200, chiefly in temperate and subtropical regions.— The above descrip- 

 tion does nc4 include tho two anomalous monotypie genera Littorclla 

 and Bougucria. 



PLANTAGO. Linn.; PL Brit. Ind. iv, 705. Characters of the Family. 



Flowering spikes Blender, 2-6 in. long ; cells of 

 capsule 4-8 seeded 1. P. major. 



Flowering spikes ovoid, |-1J in. long ; cells of , . ,. 



capsule 1-2 seeded . . . 2. P. amplexicauhs. 



1. P. major., Linn, ftfc Pi. U2; F. B. I. iv, 705; Watt E. D. ; Collett PL 

 Siml. 407 ; Cooke Fl. Bomb, ii, 477. P. asiatica, Linn.; Wall, in Roxb. 



Fl. Ind. ed. Carey and Wall, i, 423. 



A perennial herb, glabrous or nearly so. Rootstoclc stout, erect, truncate. 

 Leaves petioled. all radical, alternate, 2-5 id. long, oblong or oblong-ovate, 

 obtuse or subacute, entire or sinuate-toothed, 3-7 ribbed, base tapering 

 and deenrrent into the long sheathing petiole. Flon-ers usually crowded 

 in long Blender cylindric spikes, 3-6 in. long or more ; bracts equalling 

 or shorter than* the calyx, concave, ovate-oblong, obtuse, margins 

 scarious. Calyx } in. long, glabrous ; sepals oblong, obtuse or subacute, 

 obtusely keeled on tbo back, margins broadly scarious. Corolla ± in. 

 long, glabrous; lobes lanceolate, acute, reflexed. Anthers purple. 

 Capsule 2-celled. 1 I in. long, ovate, glabrous, splitting transversely 

 near the base, cells 4-8 seeded. Seeds minute, angled, dull-black, rugu- 

 lose. 



Dehra Dun and Siwalik range. Flowers in July. Distkib. Temperate 

 and alpine Himalaya from Kashmir to Bhutan and up to 12,000 ft. in 

 Baltistan; Zoukan, Deccan, Nilgiris and Ceylon; also in Assam, tlio 

 Khasifl Hills. Burma and the Malay Peninsula, extending to Afgbanistan 

 and westwards to the Atlantic. In many of the above-mentioned locali- 

 ties the plant has probably been introduced. The leaves are applied to 

 bruises in the Punjab, and the seeds are used medicinally as a substitute 

 for ispaghul (P. ovata). 



2. P. amplexicaulis, Cav. Ic. ii. 22 ; F. B. I. iv, 706; Watt E. Z), Cools 

 PI. Bomb, ii, 477. P. Bauphuhi, Edgew.in Hoot. Journ. Bot. ii, 285. 



Annual or perennial, sparsely hairy or glabrate, stemless <>r with a short 

 often hunching stem. Leaves radical, alternate, 3-6 in. long, narrowly 

 lan< . acuminate, entire or sparingly toothed, tapering to the 



sheathing base. Bcapss many, axillary, usually exceeding the haves, 

 terete, as Spixetoroia, \-\\ in. long; bracts \ in. long, eucullato, 



broadly ovate-oolong, obtuse, rrlabrous, membranous except tie green 

 midrib. Calyx as long as or slightly exceeding the bracts ; sepals ovate- 



