418 PLANTAGINACE^. 



87. PLANTAGINACE/E. Plantago Family. 



Acaulescent herbs with 1 to several-ribbed or -nerved radical leaves 

 Flowers regular, 4-merou3, the scarious and veinless corolla commonly 

 withering-persistent. Ovary 2 to 4-celled, superior; style long- 

 stigmatose, simple and filiform. 



1. PLANTAGO L. Plantain. 

 Flowers perfect or polygamo-dioecious, each subtended by a bract, 

 disposed in spikes or heads which are raised on a leafless scape. 

 Sepals 4. Corolla small, salverform, with a short tube, or nearly 

 rotate. Stamens 4, or sometimes 2, alternating with the lobes of the 

 corolla and borne on its tube. Ovary 2 or falsely 4-celled, with 1 

 or more ovules in each cell. Capsule ciroumseissile, the seeds 

 attached to the face of the loose partition which falls away with the 

 lid. Seed-coat mucilaginous. (Latin name of the Plantain.) 



Corolla closed over the mature capsule, forming a sort of beak; perennial; 



stamens 4; spike 6 to 12 in. long; leaves oblong-lanceolate 



1. P. hirtella. 

 Corolla remaining expanded, not closed over the mature capsules. 

 Perennials; stamens 4. 

 Leaves lanceolate . . . 2. P. lanceolata. 



Leaves ovate ... , 3. P. major. 



Leaves linear . 4. P. maritima. 



Annuals; leaves linear or oblanceolate. 

 Stamens 4; capsule 2-seeded, spike oblong: vars. of . . .6. P. Patagonica. 

 Stamens 2; capsule 4-seeded, spike narrowly linear . . 6. P. Bigelovii. 



1. P. hirtella HBK. Boot thick; herbage roughish pubescent, 

 especially the scapes and leaf-ribs; leaves oblong-oblanceolate to nar- 

 rowly oblong, tapering to apex and below into a broad petiole, 3 to 12 

 in. long and f to 3f in. wide; spikes 6 to 12 in. long, dense except at 

 the base; corolla persistent, its lobes closed over the capsule, forming 

 a sort of beak; seeds 3. 



Clay banks along the coast: Santa Cruz (?); San Francisco; Berke- 

 ley; Tennessee Bay, Marin Co.; Bolinas; Dillons Beach, ace. to 

 Setehell. 



2. P. lanceolata L. Hibwort. English Plantain. Perennial; 

 herbage somewhat villous with short hairs, often rusty-pilose; leaves 

 erect or spreading, oblong-lanceolate, tapering at base into a slender 

 petiole, strongly 3 to 5-ribbed, 3J to 6 in. long; scape longer than the 

 leaves, eulcate and angular, erect; spike short-cylindrical, | to 2 in. 

 long; corolla nearly rotate; sepals scarious, the two lower often com- 

 bined into one; stamens twice as long as the corolla, with slender fila- 

 ments; capsule 2-seeded. 



Common about San Francisco Bay, flowering from Apr. until late 

 summer. 



3. P. major L. Common Plantain. Glabrous perennial; root- 

 stock short and thick; leaf -blades round-ovate, 3 to 6 In. long, entire 

 or toothed, marked with 5 to 7 prominent ribs, these converging at 

 the base into a broad petiole 4 or 5 in. long; peduncles not as long as 

 the leaves, rarely longer, bearing an elongated spike often 8 in. 



