PLANTAGINACEAE (PLANTAIN FAMILY) 395 
range in recent years is due almost entirely to transportation in 
baled hay and to the impurity of commercial seeds, especially those 
of the red and alsike clovers. 
Leaves densely tufted, linear, long and grass-like, dark green, 
softly hairy, three-nerved, with short, margined petioles, growing 
from a somewhat thickened root which bores straight downward 
into the soil for several inches. Scapes 
erect, eight to fifteen inches high, exceed- 
ing the leaves; spikes densely flowered, 
cylindric, two to six inches in length; the 
bracts, which subtend the flowers, are a 
half-inch to an inch long, ascending, softly 
hairy. Capsules oblong-ovoid, each con- 
taining two seeds, which are nearly black 
but appear gray from a coat of dried 
mucilage, boat-shaped and hollowed on 
the flattened inner face; they have also 
a transverse ring around the outer surface 
at the point of opening of the pyxis, the 
seeds falling away with the cover, which 
is winged with the persistent papery co- 
rolla, enabling the seeds to be carried 
a short distance by the wind, so that in 
the second season after its introduction 
the plant is usually found covering the 
ground in dense colonies, choking out 
Fig. 274.—Large- 
bracted Plantain (Plantago 
nearly all other growth. Also the long aristata). x4. 
vitality of the seeds makes the weed a 
very persistent one when the ground has been once befouled.' 
(Fig. 274.) 
Means of control 
The plant is so grass-like that it is not noticeable until the 
flower-spikes appear and these should immediately be cut in order 
to prevent the ripening of any seed. If the infestation is new and 
the area not too great, hand-pulling and burning is the best remedy. 
But land badly seeded will require a series of cultivated crops in 
order to cleanse it. 
