PLANTAGINACE^E 



PLANTAIN FAMILY 



Plantago lanceolata, L. 





Plantago: The Latin name. 



Lanceolate: from Latin diminutive for a lance. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: dry, sandy soil. 



THE LEAVES: basal; narrowly oblong-lanceolate; generally 

 erect; mostly hairy; tapering to a point at the apex; gradu- 

 ally narrowed into petioles; three- to five-ribbed; entire. 



THE FLOWERS: in very dense spikes which are at first 

 short and ovoid, and later become cylindrical and blunt. 



THE FRUIT: a capsule. 



THE PLANT: from underground rooting-stems ; the flower 

 stalks slender, channeled, at length much higher than the 

 leaves. 



This is recognizable as a Plantain by its naked flower- 

 stalk, topped with a hairy head of tiny fly-away flowers. 

 But it differs from the Common Plantain in that its nearly 

 erect leaves are long and lance-shaped. 



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