PLANTAGINACE^E. (PLANTAIN FAMILY.) 2G9 



4. P. ianceolata, L. (Ribgrass. Ripplegrass. English Plan- 

 tain.) Mostly hairy; scape grooved-angled, slender (l°-2° high), much 

 longer than the leaves; spike short and thick. 1J. — Dry fields, mostly east- 

 ward. (Nat. from Eu.) 



§ 4. Flowers all perfect and commonly fertile, but of 2 sorts on different plants, some 

 with small anthers on short filaments, others with large anthers on lony-exserted fi la- 

 ments : corolla glabrous, the broad round lobes widely spreading: seeds 2 (one in 

 each cell), boat-shaped, deeply hollowed on the face: mostly annuals, ivith narrow 

 woolly or hairy leaves. 



5. P. Patagdllica, Jacq. Silky-woolly, or becoming naked ; leaves 

 1-3-nerved; spike cylindrical or oblong, dense; sepals very obtuse, scarious, 

 with a thick centre. (Found through almost the whole length of America.) 



Var. gnaplialioides. White with silky wool; leaves varying from 

 oblong-linear to filiform; spike very dense (i'-4' long), woolly; bracts not 

 exceeding the calyx. (P. Lagopus, Pursh. P. gnaphalioidcs, Nutt.) — Dry 

 plains, W. Wisconsin? and south westward. — Runs through var. spinufosa and 

 var. nuda into 



Var. aristata. Loosely hairy and green, or becoming glabrous ; bracts 

 awned, 2-3 times the Length of the flowers. (P. aristata, Miclaz., &c.) — Illinois 

 and southward. 



§ 5. Flowers diwciously polygamous, or of 2 sorts ; the mostly sterile ones with the ttsual 

 large anthers on long capillary f laments, and the lobes of the corolla reflexed or 

 spreading; the truly fertile with minute anthers on short included f laments and the 

 corolla closed over the fruit in the form of a beak: stamens 4 : pod 2-celled: seeds 1 

 or rarely 2 in each cell, nearly flat on the face: annuals or biennials, with ratlier 

 obscurely and few-ribbed leaves. 



6. P. VirgsBlica, L. Hairy or hoary-pubescent (2' -9' high); leaves 

 oblong, varying to obovato and spatulatc-lanceolatc, 3 - 5-nerved, slightly or 

 coarsely and sparingly toothed ; spike dense, often interrupted or loose below ; 

 sepals ovate or oblong. (Includes many nominal species.) — Sandy grounds, 

 Rhode Island to Illinois and southward M ty— £Jepfc. 



§ G. Flowers of 2 sorts as in § 5, but the stamens only 2, and the corolla of tlie truly 

 fertile not so much closed: jiod 2-celled: seeds 2-19 in each cell, not holloived 

 on the face: small annuals or biennials, with narrowly linear or awl-shaped and 

 obscurely \-ribbed leaves. 



7. P. pusilla, Nutt. Minutely pubescent (l'-4' high); leaves entire; 

 flowers crowded or scattered ; pod short-ovoid, 4-sccded, little exceeding the calyx 

 and bract. — Dry hills, New York to Illinois, and southward. April -Aug. 



8. P. hcterophylla, Nutt. Leaves rather fleshy, acute, entire, or den 

 ticulate, or some of them below 2-4-lobed or toothed; scapes 2' -8' high, in- 

 cluding the long and slender spike of often scattered flowers ; pod oblong-conoidal. 

 10-2%-seeded, nearly twice the length of the calyx and bract. (P. pusilla, 

 Decair.ne, in DC.) — Low or sandy grounds, from Maryland southward. April - 

 June. 



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