248 



PLANTAGINACEAE. 



VOL. III. 



8. Plantago Purshii 



& S. Pursh's Plantain. Fig. 3905. 



Plantago Purshii R. & S. Syst. 3 : 120. 1818. 

 Plantago gnaphalioides Nutt. Gen. i : zoo. 1818. 

 Plantago patagonica var. gnaphalioides A. Gray, Man. 

 Ed. 2, 269. 1856. 



Annual, woolly or silky all over, pale green ; 

 scapes slender, 2'-is' tall, longer than the leaves. 

 Leaves ascending, linear, acute or acuminate at 

 the apex, narrowed into margined petioles, 1-3- 

 nerved, ii"-4" wide, entire, or very rarely with 

 a few small teeth; spikes very dense, cylindric, 

 obtuse, i'-s' long, about 3" in diameter, exceed- 

 ingly woolly; bracts rigid, equalling or slightly 

 exceeding the flowers; flowers perfect but heter- 

 ogonous, many of them cleistogamous; sepals 

 oblong, obtuse, scarious-margined ; corolla-lobes 

 broadly ovate, spreading; stamens 4; pyxis ob- 

 long, obtuse, il" long, little exceeding the calyx, 

 2-seeded, circumscissile at about the middle; seeds 

 convex on the back, deeply concave on the face. 



On dry plains and prairies, Indiana to western On- 

 tario, British Columbia, Texas and northern Mexico. 

 Locally adventive eastward. May-Aug. Salt-and- 

 pepper-plant. 



9. Plantago aristata Michx. Large-bracted 

 Plantain. Fig. 3906. 



Plantago aristata Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. i : 95. 1803. 

 Plantago patagonica var. aristata A. Gray, Man. Ed. 2, 

 269. 1856. 



Annual, dark green, villous, or glabrate; scapes 

 stout, erect, 6'-i8' tall, exceeding the leaves. Leaves 

 linear, acuminate at the apex, entire, narrowed into 

 slender petioles, sometimes prominently 3-ribbed 

 ii"-4" wide; spikes very dense, cylindric, l'-6' long. 

 pubescent but not woolly; bracts puberulent, linear, 

 elongated, ascending, the lower often 10 times as 

 long as the flowers ; flowers very similar to those 

 of the preceding species; pyxis 2-seeded; the seeds 

 concave on the face. 



On dry plains and prairies, Illinois to South Dakota, 

 Louisiana and Texas, west to British Columbia and New 

 Mexico. Also widely adventive as a weed in the East- 

 ern States from Maine to Georgia, its eastern natural 

 limits now difficult to determine. May-Oct. 



Plantago spinulosa Dene., differing in its pale green 

 color and mostly shorter involucral bracts, enters the 

 western part of our area in Nebraska. 



10. Plantago virginica L. 



Dwarf or White Dwarf Plantain. Fig. 3907. 



Plantago virginica L. Sp. PI. 113. 1753. 



Annual or biennial, pubescent or villous ; scapes 

 erect, slender, i'-i8' high, much longer than the 

 leaves. Leaves spatulate or obovate, obtuse or 

 acutish, thin, entire, or repand-denticulate, nar- 

 rowed into margined petioles, or almost ' sessile, 

 varying greatly in size, 3-5-nerved, ascending or 

 spreading; spikes very dense, or the lower flowers 

 scattered, linear-cylindric, obtuse, 3"-4" thick, usu- 

 ally i '-4' long, but in dwarf forms reduced to 2-6 

 flowers ; flowers imperfectly dioecious ; corolla- 

 lobes of the fertile plants erect and connivent on 

 the top of the pyxis, those of the sterile widely 

 spreading; stamens 4; pyxis oblong, about as long 

 as the calyx, appearing beaked by the connivent 

 corolla-lobes, 2-4-seeded, the seeds yellow to brown. 



In dry soil, Rhode Island to Florida, Illinois, Mich- 

 igan, Missouri, Arizona and northern Mexico. Ber- 

 muda. March-July. 



Plantago rhodosperma Dene., of the Southwest, 

 with larger flowers and larger reddish seeds, is re- 

 corded as adventive in Missouri. 



