PLANTAGINACE.E. (PLANTAIN FAMILY.) 269 



4. P IANCEOLATA, L. (RlBGRASS. RlPPLEGRASS. ENGLISH PLAN- 

 TAIN.) Mostly hairy; scape grooved-angled, slender (l-2 high), much 

 longer than the leaves; spike short and thick, ty Dry fields, mostly east- 

 ward. (Nat. from Eu.) 



$ 4. Flowers all perfect and commonly fertile, but of 2 sorts on different plants, some 

 with small anthers on short filaments, others with large anthers on long-exserted fila- 

 ments : corolla glabrous, the broad round lobes widely spreading : seeds 2 (one in 

 each cell), boat-shaped, deeply hollowed on the face: mostly annuals, with narrow 

 woolly or hairy leaves. 



5. P. Patagdnica, Jacq. Silky-woolly, or becoming naked; leaves 

 1-3-nerved; spike cylindrical or oblong, dense; sepals very obtuse, scarious, 

 with a thick centre. (Found through almost the whole length of America.) 



Var. gnaphalioides. White with silky wool; leaves varying from 

 oblong-linear to filiform; spike very dense (i 1 -4' long), woolly; bracts not 

 exceeding the calyx. (P. Lagopus, Pursh. P. gnaphalioides, Nutt.) Dry 

 plains, W. Wisconsin "? and southwestward. Runs through var. spinulosa and 

 var. nuda into 



Var. aristata. Loosely hairy and green, or becoming glabrous ; bracts 

 awned, 2-3 times the length of the flowers. (P. aristata, Michx., &c.) Illinois 

 and southward. 



$ 5. Flowers diceciousl.y polygamous, or of 2 sorts ; the mostly sterile ones with the usual 

 large anthers on long capillary filaments, and the lobes of the corotta refiexed or 

 spreading ; the truly fertile with minute anthers on short included filaments and the 

 corolla closed over the fruit in the form of a beak : stamens 4 : pod 2-celled: seeds I 

 or rarely 2 in each cell, nearly fiat on the face : annuals or biennials, with rathe* 

 obscurely and few-ribbed leaves. 



6. P. Virginica, L. Hairy or hoary-pubescent (2' -9' high); leaves 

 oblong, varying to pbovate and spatulate-lanceolate, 3-5-nerved, slightly or 

 coarsely and sparingly toothed ; spike dense, often interrupted or loose below ; 

 sepals ovate or oblong. (Includes many nominal species.) Sandy grounds, 

 Rhode Island to Kentucky and southward. May- Sept. 



$ 6. Flowers of 2 sorts as in 5, but the stamens only 2, and the corolla of the truly 

 fertile not so much closed: pod 2-cetted: seeds 2-19 in each cell, not hollowed 

 on tlieface: small annuals or biennials, with narrowly linear or awl-shaped and 

 obscurely l-ribbed leaves. 



7. P. pusilla, Nutt. Minutely pubescent (l'-4' high); leaves entire; 

 flowers crowded or scattered ; pod short-ovoid, ^-seeded, little exceeding the calyx 

 and bract. Dry hills, New York to Illinois, and southward. April - Aug. 



8. P. heterophflla, Nutt. Leaves rather fleshy, acute, entire, or den- 

 ticulate, or some of them below 2 -4-lobed or toothed ; scapes 2' -8' high, in- 

 cluding the long and slender spike of often scattered flowers ; pod oblong-conoidal, 

 lO-28-seeded, nearly twice the length of the calyx and bract. (P. pusilla, 

 Decaisne, in DC.) Low or sandy grounds, from Maryland southward. April - 

 June. 



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