268 PLANTAQINACE^E. (PLANTAIN FAMILY.) 



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

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

 beiieuth (B. oblongifolia, Nutt.), passing towards No. 1. July. 



ORDER 68. PLANTAGINACE^E. (PLANTAIN FAMILY.; 



Chiefly stemless herbs, with regular A-merous spiked flowers, the staniem 

 inserted on the tube of the dry and meiubraruiceous vtinless monopelalom 

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



I. PL, ANT AGO, L. PLANTAIN. KIBGRASS. 



Calyx of 4 imbricated persistent sepals, with dry membranaccous 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 exscrted filaments, and fuga- 

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

 in each cell. Pod 2-cclled, 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 . F Lowers all perfect and alike : corolla glabrous, the lobes reflexed or spreading : 

 stamens 4, with long capillary fllaments : pod 2-cclled, 2- 18-secded : sods not hoi- 

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



1. P. M\JOR, 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 - IB-seeded. Moist grounds, especially 

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



2. P. COl'dfita, 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. Floicers all perfect and alike : corolla pubescent below : stamens 4, with long 

 Jilaiiienta : jxxlif 2-ceilcd and 2-seeded, or incompletely 3 - 4-celled and 3 - 4-seeled : 

 seed* not hollo teed on the face: perennials, with linear //</</ and fleshy leaves. 



3. P. maritiina, L. (SEASIDE PLANTAIN.) Leaves flat or fl:itti,-h 

 rliiiiinrlliMl, (MI tin' or rarely few-toothed, glabrous; spikes cylindrical or oblong; 

 bracts ovate, convex, about the length of the broadly ovate or oval scarious se- 

 pals, which have a thick keel, that of the posterior sepals crested. Var. JUN- 

 COIDES is usually more slender, the flowers often sparser, and the keel crestless. 

 Salt marshes on the coast 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 generally united into 

 one: corolla, stamens, $-c. as in the . first group: seeds (and ovules) 2, hollowed on 

 ttie face: leaves flat, lanceolate, 3- 5-ribbed. 



