392 PLANTAGINACEAE (PLANTAIN FAMILY) 
Means of control 
In lawns these weeds can be destroyed without much deface- 
ment of the sward by treating them with carbolic acid. Stab each 
plant in the center, down to the fibrous cluster of roots, with a stout 
dibble or skewer stick, and squirt in a few drops of the acid with a 
common machine oil-can. Or the plants may be cut out with a 
spud. The best time for either operation is in dry weather, just 
before the spikes appear. In cultivated crops Plantains are not 
very troublesome, as the needed tillage destroys them. 
RED-STEM PLANTAIN 
Plantago Rugéliit, Dene. 
Other English names: Pale Plantain, Rugel’s Plantain. 
Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 
Time of bloom: June to September. 
Seed-time: July to October. 
Range: Maine and Ontario to North Dakota, southward to Florida 
and Texas; locally established farther west. 
Habitat: Yards and shaded lawns, open woods, and waste places. 
A near relative of the Common Plantain, often growing in its 
company. Leaves similar in form but larger, thinner, pale green, 
with rather long, slender petioles, crimson at the base. Spikes very 
slender, sometimes twenty inches in length, not crowded, tapering 
to a thin point at the summit, and crimson at the base. Flowers 
similar to those of the preceding species but larger, the green 
calyx-lobes sharply keeled. Capsule oblong, nearly cylindric, 
the pyxis opening near the base, within the calyx; seeds four to 
nine, larger than those of the Common Plantain and more difficult 
of separation from clover and grass seed. 
Means of control the same as for the Common Plantain. 
NARROW-LEAVED PLANTAIN 
Plantago lanceolata, L. 
Other English names: Rib Grass, Ribwort, Ripple Grass, English 
Plantain, Black Plantain, Buckhorn. 
Introduced. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 
Time of bloom: April to October. 
Seed-time: May to November. 
