PLANTAGINACEAE (PLANTAIN FAMILY) 465 



segments equal, or 2 of them larger. Corolla salverform; the tube cylindric, 

 or constricted at the throat; the limb 4-lobed or 4-parted, spreading in flower, 

 in fruit spreading, erect, or reflexed. Stamens 4 or 2. Ovary 2-celled or 

 falsely 3-4-celled. Fruit a membranaceous capsule. Seed-coat developing 

 copious mucilage when wetted. 



Stamens 4; flowers perfect; corolla not closing over the capsule. 



Leaves 3-8-nerved, glabrous or pubescent but not silky-lanate; spikes 



not woolly. 

 Capsule circumscissile near the middle. 



Leaves broad, mostly oval . . . . . . . 1. P. major. 



Leaves lanceolate . . . . . . . . . 2. P. lanceolata. 



Capsule circumscissile near the base. 

 Crown not woolly. 



In saline soil; leaves oval, 5-9-nerved; capsule 5-20-seeded . 3. P. nitrophila. 

 Subalpine; leaves 3-7-nerved; capsule usually 4-seeded . . 4. P. Tweedyi. 

 Crown with brown or red wool involving the base of the petioles 5. P. eriopoda. 



Leaves linear, silky-lanate; spikes woolly 6. P. Purshii. 



Stamens 2; flowers subdioecious or polygamo-dioecious; corolla-lobes 



closing over the capsule . . . . . . . . . 7. P. elongata. 



1. Plantago major L. Sp. PI. 113. 1753. Smooth or sometimes pubescent 

 or even roughish: leaves strongly ribbed, broad, ovate, oblong, oval, or sub- 

 cordate, often toothed, abruptly narrowed into a channeled petiole: spike 

 dense, obtuse: sepals round-ovate or obovate: corolla glabrous: style exserted 

 from the unopened corolla: stamens exserted when the corolla has opened: 

 pod ovoid, circumscissile near the middle, 8-18-seededf seeds angled, reticu- 

 lated. Cosmopolitan; waste places about towns. 



2. Plantago lanceolata L. 1. c. More or less pubescent; rootstpck short, 

 with tufts of brown hair at the base of the leaves, perennial or biennial: leaves 

 narrowly lanceolate, mostly erect, entire, acute or acuminate, gradually 

 narrowed into petioles, 3-5-ribbed: scapes slender, channeled, 2-5 dm. high: 

 spikes very dense, at first short and ovoid, becoming cylindric, blunt, 2-8 cm. 

 long in fruit; flowers perfect: sepals ovate, with a narrow green midrib and 

 broad, scarious margins, the 2 lower ones commonly united: corolla glabrous, 

 the tube very short: stamens exserted: capsule oblong, very obtuse, 2-seeded, 

 slightly longer than the calyx, circumscissile at about the middle : seeds deeply 

 excavated on the face. Infrequent in our range; widely dispersed from 

 Europe. 



3. Plantago nitrophila A. Nels. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 29: 405. 1902. 

 Rootstock short, with a great number of thick, fibrous roots: leaves 1 dm. or 

 more in length, mostly oval, sometimes nearly orbicular, obtuse or obtusish, 

 entire or crenately dentate, the 5-7 nerves extending into the pubescent 

 petiole which generally equals oj: exceeds the thick blade: scape proper about 

 equaling the leaves, whitish wi^h soft crinkly hairs: spike equaling the scape, 

 simple or with 2 or more short spikes from the lowest foliar bracts, mod- 

 erately thick, crowded; bracts proper ovate, subacute, scarious-margined, 

 keeled and closely appressed, shorter than the mature fruit: sepals nearly 

 orbicular, overlapping each other, scarious with a green midrib, but little 

 more than half as long as the bracts: capsule ovate, 3^4 mm. long, circum- 

 scissile near the base: seeds 7-10 in each cell, oblong-elliptic, obscurely wing- 

 angled and delicately reticulated, dark brown. (P. asiatica as to our range, 

 and probably also P. Rugellii.) Wet alkaline banks; Colorado and Wyoming. 



4. Plantago Tweedyi Gray, Syn. Fl. 2 1 : 390. 1886. Plant 1-2 dm. high 

 from a slender root or rootstock, destitute of wool at the crown: leaves mem- 

 branaceous, lanceolate-spatulate, entire or obsoletely denticulate, obscurely 

 3-5-nerved, 3-7 cm. long, attenuate into a shorter margined petiole: spike 

 slender but densely flowered, 2-5 cm. long: bracts and sepals short, about 

 2 mm. long, pale with greenish midrib, little over half the length of the oblong 

 capsule. Subalpine; from Colorado to Idaho and Montana. 



5. Plantago eriopoda Torr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. 2: 237. 1827. Usually a mass 

 of yellowish-brown or red wool at the crown: leaves oblanceolate to oval- 

 obovate, fleshy-coriaceous, 3-7-nerved, 1-1.5 dm. long, with a short or stout 

 petiole: spike cylindrical, dense or sometimes sparsely flowered: sepals roundish- 



ROCKY MT. BOT. 30 



