268 PLANTAGINACEJS. (PLANTAIN FAMILY.) 



fruit globular. (B. lanuginosa & tomcutosa, A. DC.) Woods, Illinois, oppo- 

 site St. Louis, and southward, a variety with the leaves less woolly and rusty 

 beneath (B. oblongiibiia, Nutt.), passing towards No. 1. July. 



ORDER G8. PL.ANTAGINACEJE. (PLANTAIN FAMILY.; 



Chiefly steirdess herbs, with regular -merous spiked flowers, the stamens 

 inserted on the tube of the dry and .membranaceous veinleas monopetulous 

 corolla, alternate with its lobes ; chiefly represented by the genus 



1. P.LANTAGO, L. PLANTAIN. HIBGKASS. 



Calyx of 4 imbricated persistent sepals, with dry membranaceous margins. 

 Corolla salver-form, withering on the pod, the border 4-parted. Stamens 4, or 

 rarely 2, in all or some flowers with long and weak exserted filaments, and fuga- 

 cious 2-celled anthers. Ovary 2- (or falsely 3-4-) celled, with 1- several ovules 

 in each cell. Pod 2-celled, 2 - several-seeded, opening all round by a transverse 

 line, so that the top falls off like a lid, and the loose partition (which bears the 

 peltate seeds) falls away. Embryo straight, in fleshy albumen. Leaves ribbed. 

 Flowers whitish, small, in a bracted spike or head, raised on a naked scape. 

 (The Latin name of the Plantain.) 



$ 1. Flowers all perfect and alike: corolla glabrous, the lobes reflexed or spreading: 

 stamens 4, with long capillary filaments : pod 2-celled, 2-18-seedtd : seeds not hol- 

 lowed out on the inner face : perennials, with several-ribbed (broad) leaves. 



1. I*. MAJOK, L. (COMMON PLANTAIN.) Smooth Or hairy; leaves ovate, 

 oval, or slightly heart-shaped, often toothed, abruptly narrowed into a chan- 

 nelled petiole; spike cylindrical ; pod 7 - 1 Q-seeded. Moist grounds, especially 

 near dwellings. June -Sept. Very much varying in size. (Nat. from Eu.) 



2. P. COrdata, Lam. Very glabrous; leaves heart-shaped or round-orate 

 (3' -8' long), long-petiolcd, the ribs rising from the midrib; spike at length loose- 

 ly flowered; bracts round-ovate, fleshy ; pod 2-4-seeded. Along rivulets, New 

 York to Wisconsin (rare), and southward. April- June. 



$ 2. Flmrers all perfect and alike : corolla pubescent below : stamens 4, with long 

 jilanicufs : puds 2-celfed and 2-seedcd, or incompletely 3- 4t -celled and 3-4-s 

 seeds not hollowed on the face.: perennials, irith liiuar thick and fleshy leaves. 



3. P. liiai'ttiina, L. (SEASIDK PLANTAIN.) Leaves flat or i; 



< h.niiiclh'il, entire or rarely few-toothed, glabrous; spikes cylindrical or oblong; 



ovate, convex, about the length of the broadly ovale or oval scari. 

 pals, which have, a thick keel, that of the posterior sepals crestrd. Yar. JUN- 

 C')i DI:S is usually more slender, the llowers often sparser, and the keel (-restless. 

 Salt marshes on the coa^t from New Jersey northward; the var. only north- 

 ward. Our plant is an annual. (Eu). _ 



3. Flowers all perfect and alike; the 2 anterior icarious sepals yencmUtj united into 

 one: corolla, stamens, ijr. as in Uie first yroup : seeds (and ovules) 2, hollowed on 

 Hie face : leaves Jlat, lanceolate, 3 - 5-ribbed. 



