PLANTAIN. 225 



broadly ovate, obtuse spreading, nearly glabrous, entire or 

 toothed, seven-nerved, sinuated at the margin, slightly decurrent 

 upon the channelled petiole which is variable in length, some- 

 times as long as the leaves. The scape is simple, straight, 

 slightly angular, pubescent upwards, terminating in a slender 

 dense spike from four to six inches in length. The calyx con- 

 sists of four small, erect, greenish, membranous divisions, with a 

 concave bractea at the base. The corolla is four-cleft, the seg- 

 ments reflexed, of a brownish colour. The stamens are four, 

 with long, capillary, erect, filaments tipped with roundish purple 

 anthers. The germen is inferior, ovate, supporting a filiform 

 style shorter than the stamens, and terminated by a simple 

 hairy stigma. The fruit is an ovate capsule with two cells 

 bursting all round transversely, and containing six or eight ob- 

 long, reddish brown seeds in each cell. Plate 37, fig. 4. (a) en- 

 tire flower with its bractea ; (b) corolla opened ; (c) pistil ; (d) 

 capsule, with the superior part detached, magnified ; (e) seed 

 magnified. 



This familiar plant is common nearly all over Europe, by 

 way sides, and in dry arid pastures. It flowers in June and 

 July. 



The generic name is of uncertain origin, it is probably de- 

 rived from planta the sole of the foot, in allusion to the broad 

 flat leaves lying close upon the ground. This species is called 

 way-bred, from its prevalence on the way-side. " It appears to 

 follow the migrations of man as if domesticated or sympathe- 

 tically attached to the human race. Thus, though not pur- 

 posely conveyed, it has followed our colonists to every part of 

 the world, and has among the natives in some of our settlements 

 been emphatically named " The Englishman's Foot," for with a 

 strange degree of certainty wherever it is found, there our 

 countrymen have trod." * 



The other British species are: — the Hoary Plantain (P. 

 media) with ovate nearly sessile leaves, a rounded scape, and a 

 capsule with two cells, each containing one seed ; the Ribwort 

 Plantain (P. lanceolata) with lanceolate leaves, angular scape, 

 ovate spike, and each cell of the capsule with one seed ; the 

 sea-side Plantain (P. maritima), with linear grooved fleshy 



* Burnett's Outlines, p. 1027- 



