PLANTAGINACEAE (PLANTAIN FAMILY) 391 



COMMON, OR BROAD-LEAVED, PLANTAIN 

 Plantago major, L. 



Other English names: Greater Plantain, Dooryard Plantain, Bird- 

 seed Plantain, Way bread. 



Introduced. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 

 Time of bloom: May to September. 

 Seed-time: July to October. 



Range: Throughout North America except the extreme North. 

 Habitat : Yards and lawns, roadsides, and waste places. 



A very persistent intruder in yards and lawns, no doubt because 

 of the long vitality of its seeds. Leaves all basal, long ovate, 

 entire, obtuse, rounded at base, 

 with five to seven prominent length- 

 wise veins that all draw together 

 into a thick, channeled petiole ; the 

 outer row of the spreading tuft 

 lies close to the ground, conserving 

 moisture for the clustered, fibrous 

 roots and choking out grass or 

 other plant growth. Flowers on 

 slender, cylindrical blunt spikes, 

 three inches to a foot or more in 

 length, densely crowded, the corollas 

 four-lobed, with four stamens in- 

 serted on the throat, and a single 

 style which protrudes from the bud, 

 its stigma withered before its own 

 anthers are ripe, thus insuring 

 cross-fertilization; calyx four-parted, 

 persistent, subtended by a small 

 bract; ovary two-celled. Capsule FIG. 272 - Broad-leaved Plantain 



i (Plantago major). X *. 



a small urn or pyxis, the top 



separating transversely at about the middle; each contains five 

 to sixteen seeds. When wet these seeds develop a coat of 

 mucilage which helps in their distribution; they are a fre- 

 quent impurity of other seeds, particularly of alsike clover. 

 (Fig. 272.) 



