PLANTAGO PLANT AGIN A CE^E 561 



ORDER LXXIII PLANTAGINACE^ Lindl. Nat. Syst 267. 



Annual or perennial herbs with mostly radical leaves and 

 small flowers in bracted spikes or heads, or rarely solitary, on 

 scapes or scape-like peduncles. Calyx inferior, 4-parted, per- 

 sistent, the segments imbricated. Corolla scarious or mem- 

 branaceous, mostly marcescent, 4-lobed. Stamens 4 or 2, 

 filaments filiform: anthers versatile 2-celled, the cells dehiscent 

 longitudinally. Ovary 1-2- celled or falsely 3-4-celled, with 1 

 to several peltate-amphitropous ovules in each cell. Style 

 filiform, simple, mostly longitudinally stigmatic. Fruit a pyxis, 

 circumscissile at or below the middle, or an indehiscent nutlet. 

 Cotyledons but little broader than the radicle. 



1 PLANTAGO Tourn. L. Sp. 112. 



Acaulescent or short-caulescent herbs with mostly radical par- 

 allel-veined leaves and small white or greenish flowers in terminal 

 spikes or heads. Calyx-segments equal, or 2 of them larger. 

 Corolla salverform, the tube cylindric, or constricted at the throat, 

 the limb spreading in flower, spreading, erect or reflexe in fruit, 

 4-lobed or 4-parted. Stamens 4 or 2. Ovary 2-celled, or falsely 

 3-4-celled. Fruit a membranaceous capsule. Seed-coat develop- 

 ing copious mucilage when wetted. 



P. major L. Sp. 112. (COMMON PLANTAIN). Glabrous or more or less 

 pubescent: rootstock perennial, short and thick, erect: leaves spreading 

 or ascending, the blade mostly ovate, obtuse or acutish, entire or coarsely 

 dentate, narrowed, rounded or'cord ate at base, 1-10 inches long, on petioles 

 dften as long as the blade: scapes longer than the leaves: spikes linear- 

 cylindric, usually very dense and blunt at the summit, 2-10 inches long: 

 flowers perfect, proterogynous ; sepals broadly ovate, scarious on the mar- 

 gins, about half as long as the ovoid 5-16-seeded capsule, which is circum- 

 scissile near the middle: corolla-lobes spreading on the summit of the 

 capsule : anthers long-exserted on capillary filaments. Common in gardens 

 and waysides. 



P. Asiatica L. Sp. 113. Leaves ovate or oval, several-ribbed, the base 

 abruptly contracted into a distinct petiole, not fleshy: rootstock short and 

 thick, perennial: scapes longer than the leaves: spikes 2-20 inches long, 

 dense, linear-cylindrical: stamens 4, long-exserted: capsule globose-ovoid, 

 ci cumscissile near the base and much within the calyx. Near the coast 

 California to Alaska. 



P. eriopoda Torr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. ii, 237. Perennial : base of the 

 leaves and scapes densely invested with long rusty brown wool : leaves 

 broadly lanceolate, 4-6 inches long, 1-2 inches bro'ad, attenuate at each 

 end, acute, entire, smooth, distinctly 5-nerved, long-petioled : scapes 6-12 

 inches high, terete, very glabrous: spikes cylindrical, 3-6 inches long, of 

 rather remote perfect flowers : bracts broadly ovate, obtusish : style and 

 stamens long-exserted: capsule 2-celled, 4-5-seeded ; seeds not hollowed. 

 Eastern Washington to California and Colorado. 



P. macrocarpa Cham. & Schl. Linn, i, 106. Leaves lanceolate, acute 

 5-7-nerved, 5-15 inches long, 4-18 lines wide gradually tapering below 

 into long margined petioles, often some of the outer ones linear and with 

 a dilated base much broader than the blade : rootstock thick, perennial : 

 scapes equalling or surpassing the leaves, densely woolly above: spikes 



