Wild Flowers East of the Rockies 323 



PLANTAIN FAMILY (Plantaginaceae). 



A small family of despised weeds with coarse tooth- 

 less leaves clustered at the root and tiny flowers on a 

 coarse spike. 



ENGLISH PLANTAIN (Plantago lanceolata) is one 

 of the most common flowering weeds about dooryards 

 everywhere. It is only because of its very abundance 

 that it has been given a place in this volume, certain- 

 ly not because of its beauty for it is one of our most 

 inconspicuous weeds in flower. It is regarded as a 

 pest by real estate owners who take pride in the ap- 

 pearance of their yards. It is very prolific and very 

 difficult to eradicate. 



The leaves all radiate from the base; they are lan- 

 ceolate, sharply pointed and set on long, troughed 

 stems; they are dark green in color and are strongly 

 ribbed lengthwise. 



The flower stem is stiff and smooth and attains 

 heights of 6 to 18 inches. The head is short and 

 studded with tiny, four-parted, dull white flowers, 

 with long, slender stamens There are often perfect, 

 staminate and pistillate flowers on the same plant. It 

 is now as abundant in all parts of our range as it is 

 in its native European home. 



COMMON PLANTAIN (Plantago major) is, like the 

 last, a very familiar weed about ill-kept dooryards. 

 The leaves are larger, more spreading and not as 

 erect; they are broad-oblong and on long troughed 

 stems that radiate from the root. 



The flower stalk rises to about the same height as 

 the last, but the flower head is very long. The tiny 

 white flowers open in circles about this head, slowly 

 making their way towards the top in their succession 

 of bloom, which lasts from June until September. 



