PLANT AGINACEAE. 



359 



greenish or purplish flowers. Calyx-segments equal, or two of them larger. 

 Corolla salverform, the tube eylindric, or constricted at the throat, the limb 

 spreading in anthesis. Fruit a membranous pyxis, mostly 2-celled. Seeds 

 various, sometimes hollowed out on the inner side. [The Latin name.] Over 

 200 species, of wide geographic distribution. Type species: Plantago major L. 



Corolla-lobes spreading or reflexed in fruit. 



Leaves ovate ; seeds several in each pyxis. 1. P. major. 



Leaves narrowly oblong-lanceolate ; seeds only 2 in each pyxis. 2. P. lanceolata. 



Corolla-lobes erect and closing over the top of the pyxis ; seeds 2-4. 3. P. viryinica. 



1. Plantago major L. Common, or 

 Greater Plantain. (Pig. 388.) Peren- 

 nial, glabrous or pubescent; rootstock short, 

 thick, erect. Leaves long-petioled, mostly 

 ovate, entire, or coarsely dentate, l'-6' long, 

 3-11-ribbed; scapes 2-2° high; spike linear- 

 cylindric, usually dense, commonly blunt, 2'- 

 6' long, 3''-4" thick; flowers perfect; sepals 

 broadly ovate to obovate, scarious margined, 

 one-half to two-thirds as long as the obtuse 

 or subacute, 5-16-seeded pyxis which is cir- 

 cumscissile at about the middle; stamens 4. 



Common in waste and cultivated grounds. 

 Naturalized. Native of Europe. Widely nat- 

 uralized nearly all over the world. Flowers 

 nearly throughout the year. 



2. Plantago lanceolata L. Eib- 



Tv^ORT. Rib-grass. (Fig. 389.) 

 Perennial or biennial, pubescent; 

 rootstock short, erect, with tufts of 

 hairs at the bases of the leaves. 

 Leaves narrowly oblong-lanceolate, 

 shorter than the scapes, entire, acute 

 or acuminate, gradually narrowed 

 into petioles, 3-5-ribbed, 2-12' 

 long; scapes slender, channelled, 6'- 

 2° tall; spikes dense, at first ovoid, 

 becoming eylindric, blunt and l'-4' 

 long in fruit, 4"-6" thick; flowers 

 perfect; sepals ovate, with a nar- 

 row green midrib and broad scarious 

 margins, the two lower ones com- 

 monly united; corolla glabrous; fil- 

 aments white; pyxis oblong, very 

 obtuse, 2-seeded, slightly longer than 

 the calyx, circumscissile at about 

 the middle. 



Common in grassy places, waste and cultivated grounds. Naturalized. Native 

 of Europe. Widely naturalized in North America. Flowers nearly throughout the 

 year. In Bermuda the plant is frequently clothed with long silvery hairs. 



