PLANTAGINACE-*:. 1 7 1 



ascend iiifj. Soajics more or loss curvctl towards the base. Spikes 

 ol)lc)n;; or roundish. Bracts and sepals niarkid with fuscous or hiack 

 blotclics. 



Var. 3, major. 



Rootstock 1- or few-headed. Leaves with long distinct petioles, 

 erect. Scapes erect, scarcely curved at the base. Spikes cylindrical 

 or oblong-cylindrical. Bracts and sepals marked with fuscous or black 

 blotches. 



Var. y, Timhali. 

 Plate MCLXV. 

 /?.•/.•/.. Ic. Fl. Gcmi. ct Helv. Vol. XVII. Tab. MCXXXVII. Fig. 4. 

 P. Timbiili, J,>rd. Pug. PI. Nov. p. 138. 



Rootstock many-headed, cespitose. Leaves distinctly stalked, erect 

 or ascending. Scapes erect, straight, or very slightly curved at the 

 base. Spikes cylindrical or oblong-cylindrical. Bracts with the 

 scarious portion silvery white, with subulate points, and as well as the 

 sepals without fuscous blotches. 



In meadows, pastures, waste places, by roadsides, »S:c. Very com- 

 mon, and generally distributed. Var. in grass fields and meadows. 

 Var. y in fields of clover, sainfoin, and lucerne, but apparently not 

 indigenous. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Biennial or Perennial. S[)ring to 

 Autumn. 



A very variable plant, sometimes, as in var. a, with the leaves, 

 including the petioles, only about 1 inch long, in var. /3 sometimes 

 more than 1 foot ; the scapes varying from 2 inches to 2 feet in height; 

 the spikes sometimes globular, and scarcely \ inch in diameter, some- 

 times cylindrical and 2 or 3 inches long, and between these extremes 

 every intermediate lorm is to be found. The leaves are sometimes so 

 broatl and hairy that the jilant resembles P. media, but the scapes are 

 furrowed, the bracts longer and not hooded at the apex, and the 

 2 inner calyx segments are keeled and abruptly rounded off at the 

 apical angle of the back, witli a short point where the curved line meets 

 the straight margins. The anthers in all the forms are yellowish- 

 white, on very long filaments. 



Var. Timhali has much the aspect of a sub-species, but Mr. Ilewett 

 Watson has raised from the seed of this fonii a plant much resemblin'T 

 the ordinary state, with black marks on the bracts: and the elongated 

 point of the bracts does not appear to be a constant character. 



Common Rib-grass. 



French, Plantain lanceole. German, lanzettVichcr Wegen'ch. 

 This plant, which abounds in every mea<low, was brought into notice some vi'ars 



z -2 



