744 PLANTAGINACEAE (PLANTAIN FAMILY) 



1. Littorella. Scape 1-2-flowered. Ovary 1-celled, 1-seeded. Aquatic. 



2. Plantago. Scape several-many-flowered. Ovary 2-celled, 2-oo -seeded. Terrestrial. 



1. LITTORELLA Bergius. 



Flowers monoecious. The staminate solitary, on a mostly simple naked 

 scape ; calyx 4-parted, longer than the cylindraceous 4-cleft corolla ; anthers ex- 

 serted, on very long capillary filaments. Pistillate flowers usually 2, sessile at 

 the base of the scape ; calyx of 3 or 4 unequal sepals ; corolla urn-shaped, with 

 a 3-4-toothed orifice. Ovary with a single cell and ovule, tipped with a long 

 laterally stigmatic style, maturing as an achene. (Name from litus or littus, 

 shore, from the place of growth.) 



1. L. uniflbra (L.) Asch. Stoloniferous but otherwise stemless; leaves 

 terete, linear-subulate, 2-7 cm. long. (L. lacustris L.) In water or on gravelly 

 shores, Nfd. to Me., Vt., Ont., and Minn.; very rare. (Eu.) 



2. PLANTAGO [Tourn.] L. PLANTAIN. RIBWORT 



Calyx of 4 imbricated persistent sepals, mostly with dry membranaceous 

 margins. Corolla salver-form or rotate, withering on the pod, the border 4- 

 parted. Stamens 4, or rarely 2, in all or some flowers with long and weak 

 exserted filaments, and fugacious 2-celled anthers. Ovary 2 (or in no. 6 falsely 

 3-4) -celled, with 1-several ovules in each cell. Style and long hairy stigma 

 single, filiform. Capsule 2-celled, 2-several-seeded, opening transversely, so 

 that the top falls off like a lid and the loose partition (which bears the peltate 

 seeds) falls away. Embryo straight, in fleshy albumen. Leaves ribbed. 

 Flowers whitish, small, in a bracted spike or head, raised on a naked scape. 

 (The Latin name.) 



a. Corolla not closed over the fruit &. 



6. Seeds plump, not hollowed on the face c. 

 c. Leaves with more or less dilated strongly ribbed blade. 



Ribs of the broad leaves rising from the midrib . . . 1. P. cordata. 



Kibs of the leaf free to the contracted base. 



Pod circumscissile near the middle 2. P. major. 



Pod circumscissile much below the middle. 

 Sepals sharply carinate on the back. 



Spike densely flowered ; capsule 4-9-seeded . . . 8. P. Rugelii. 

 Spike remotely flowered ; capsule 2-seeded . . . . 4. P. sparsiflora. 

 Sepals rounded, not sharply carinate on the back . . 5. P. eriopoda. 



c. Leaves linear to subterete, fleshy, obscurely ribbed . . . 6. P. decipiens. 

 &. Seeds flattened, or hollowed on the face, or boat-shaped d. 



d. Leaves lanceolate to ovate, strongly ribbed. 



Leaves lanceolate to lance-oblong 7. P. lanceolata. 



Leaves ovate to ovate-oblong 8. P. media. 



d. Leaves linear to setaceous. 



White, silky-lanate ; bracts not exceeding the calyx . . . 9. P. Purshii. 



Green, loosely pubescent ; lower bracts much exceeding the calyx 10. P. aristata. 

 a. Corolla (of fertile flowers) closed over the fruit. 



Leaves spatulate-lanceolate to obovate ; stamens 4. 



Fruiting calyx 1.5-2.5 mm. long; seed 0.8-1. 5 mm. long . . .11. P. virginica. 



Fruiting calyx 3-4 mm. long ; seed 2.5-3 mm. long . . . . 12. P. rhodosperma. 

 Leaves linear to filiform ; stamens 2. 



Capsule 4-seeded 13 . p. elongata. 



Capsule 10-28-seeded 14. p. heterophylla. 



1. Stamens 4 ; flowers all perfect ; corolla not closed over the fruit. 

 * Flowers proterogynous, the style first projecting from the unopened corolla, 

 the anthers long-exserted after the corolla has opened; seeds not hollowed 

 on the face (except in nos. 7 and 8). 



1. P. cordata Lam. Tall, glabrous; leaves fleshy, heart-shaped or round- 

 ovate, 1-2.5 dm. long, long-petioled, the ribs arising from the midrib; spike at 

 length loosely flowered; bracts round-ovate, fleshy; capsule 2-4-seeded. 

 Along streams, in wooded swamps, etc., N. Y. and Ont. to Minn., and southw. 



