128 



42. PJ;ANTACaNACE.E. 



as the corolla; sepals 2, one on each side of the corolla 

 and not half its length, linear-lanceolate, ciliate, white and 

 resembling bracteoles ; corolla narrow, slit downwards for 

 half its length so as to become 1-lipped, the lip 4-lobed. 

 Sandy land near Grange Railway. — Aug. -Oct. — S. Africa. 



Family 42.— PLANTAGINACE>t. 



1. Plantago, L. 

 Calyx divided into 4 sepals ; corolla scarious, 4-lobed ; 

 stamens 4, protruding, alternate with the corolla-lobes; 

 style simple; fruit capsular, membranous, 2-4-celled, open- 

 ing circularly near the base. Flowers in dense spikes at 

 the top of long, stiff, leafless peduncles. 



I-eaves oval or lanceolate. 



Leaves oval; capsule with 8-16 seeds ... P. major 1 



Leaves lanceolate; capsule with 2 seeds ... P. lanceolatti 2 



Leaves linear-pinnatifid P. Coronopvs 3 



1. Plantagro major, L. Greater Plantain. Peren- 

 nial with a short, thick rootstock ; leaves in a radical 

 rosette, thick, oval, toothed or entire, 5-9-nerved, on long, 

 somewhat winged stalks : flowers in slender, cylindrical 

 spikes, 3-20 cm. (1^-8 in.) long, rather loose at the base, 

 on striate peduncles equalling or exceeding the leaves; 

 bracts bluntly oval, about half the length of the oval sepals, 

 and, like them, green on the back and scarious at the 

 edges; corolla-lobes oval; capsule 2-celled, with 4-8 angular 

 seeds in each cell. 



Near Torrens and Onkaparinga Rivers, and in gullies. — 

 Oct.-Apl. — Europe ; Asia. 



2. P. lanceolata, L. Bih- 

 grass. Perennial with a short, 

 thick rootstock, woolly about the 

 base of the leaves; leaves radi- 

 cal, lanceolate-acuminate, taper^ 

 ing into a .stalk, usually with o 

 conspicuous ribs; flowers in 

 spikes at first oval-oblong^ fin- 

 allv almost cylindrical, 3-7 cm. 

 (ll'-3 in.) long; peduncles angu- 

 lar, furrowed, longer than the 

 leaves ; bracts oval, longer than 

 the sepals, which are keeled, 

 more or less hairy on the back, 

 the 2 lower ones usually united 

 to near the summit; corolla 

 whitish, with oval lobes; cap- 

 sule 2-celled, with 1 brown shin- 

 ing, oblong seed, channeled on 

 the inner face, in each cell. 



Roadsides, pasture, gullies. - 

 Oct. -Jan. — Europe; Asia. Plantago lanceolata. 



