356 PLANTAIN FAMILY. 



S. Siebdldi, Miq. (S. TUBERf fer a and S. affinis of gardens). Chorogi. 

 Cbosnes. Low hairy plant (12'-18'), with rather thick, more or iess 

 hairy, notched leaves on short strong petioles ; producing many white 

 and crisp, jointed tubers 2'-3' long, under ground, and for which the 

 plant is cultivated. China. 



S. Bet6nica, Benth. (Bet6nica officinalis). Betont, Bishop's-wort. 

 A European plant occasionally seen in old gardens and once esteemed 

 for medicinal purposes ; 6'-2°, with petiolate and oblong-cordate, obtuse, 

 crenate leaves, and red-purple hairy corolla f long; flowers in spicate 

 whorls. 



XC. PIAHTAGINACEJi, PLANTAIN FAMILY. 



Consists almost entirely of the very familiar weedy genus 



1. PLANTAGO, PLANTAIN, RIB GRASS. (The old Latin name.) 

 Flowers in a spike, on a naked scape, small and inconspicuous. Sepals 

 4 (or rarely 3 from 2 of them growing together), imbricated, persistent. 

 Corolla short salver- form, thin and membranaceous, usually becoming 

 scarious and dry, or withering on the pod ; lobes 4. Stamens 4 (or rarely 

 2) borne on the tube of the corolla ; filaments usually lengthening sud- 

 denly at flowering time and hanging (as in Grasses), bearing the 2- 

 celled anthers. Style and long hairy stigma single and thread-like. 

 Ovary 2-celled or falsely 3-4-celled in P. decipiens. Pod 2-celled, » 

 pyxis, the top falling off as a lid, and the partition then falling out 

 along with the 1 or more seeds. Leaves parallel-ribbed, all from the 

 ground. The following are the common species ; flowers summer. 



* Flowers all perfect, in each the style generally protruded a day or two 

 before the anthers open or are hung out ; lobes of corolla remaining wide 

 open; stamens 4. 



-i- Flowers all alike, style protruded first. 



** Corolla glabrous on the outside ; leaves strongly ribbed and not 



fleshy. 11 



= Bibs of the leaves springing from the midrib. 



P. cord&ta, Lam. Leaves broad, cordate, or round-ovate, 3'-8' long, 

 long-stalked; spike becoming loosely flowered. By streams, N. Y., W. 



an = = Bibs running to the contracted base of the leaves. 



II Leaves ovate or oval in outline. 



P. mjtjor, Linn. Common P. Smooth or sparsely hairy, with ovate 

 or oblong or slightly cordate leaves, which are sometimes toothed ; spike 

 dense and blunt at the top ; pod ovoid, dividing near the middle, 8-18- 

 seeded, the seeds angled and reticulated. Very common in dooryards 

 and waste places, the scapes rising from 6'-12'. 



P. Rugelii, Decne. Leaves thinner and paler ; spikes long and 

 attenuate ; pod cylindrical-oblong, dividing much below the middle, and 

 only 4-9-seeded; seeds not reticulated. Vt., W. and S. 



|| || Leaves long and narrow. 



P. lanceo/ata, Linn. Rib grass, Ripple grass, or English Plantain. 

 Nat. from Eu. in fields, and a bad weed in poor lawns ; rather hairy, with 



