DESCRIPTIVE MANUAL 



21)7 



Fig. 170-A. Distribution of Speedwell. 



Common Plantain (Plantago major L.). 



Description. — A smooth, glabrous perennial with short root- 

 stocks ; leaves with a long channeled petiole, ovate, oblong or oval ; 

 spike long, linear, cylindrical, capsule circumscissile near the mid- 

 dle; flowers proterogynous ; seed smooth, angled, reticulated; tri- 

 chomes short, several-celled, from a broad base. 



Distribution. — Common plantain is widely distributed in North 

 America from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Perhaps native far 

 northward ; probably naturalized in Iowa. It is found in every 

 county in the state ; frequent in dooryards, fields and pastures. 



'Extermination. — Usually not a difficult weed to exterminate in 

 cultivated fields. 



Clark and Fletcher recommend the following treatment: "Hoed 

 crops every four years will keep this weed in check. Working 

 with a broad-shared cultivator, followed by a harrow, to drag the 

 plants with their fibrous roots to the surface, is recommended for 

 spring cultivation. Plantain in lawns may be weeded out when 

 the soil is firm by forcing a small implement like a chisel, with 

 a half-round blade having a point like the tip of a spoon, between 

 the soil and the fleshy crown of the weed to a depth sufficient to 

 break the plant away from its fibrous roots without disfiguring the 

 turf. A teaspoonful of salt applied to the crown of small plants 

 in hot dry weather will kill them without seriously injuring the 

 grass." 



