744 PLANTAGINACEAE (PLANTAIN FAMILY) 



1. Littorella. Scape 1-2-flowered. Ovary l-celled, 1-seeded. Aquatic. 



2. Plantago. Scape seyeral-many-flowered. Ovary 2-oeUed, 2-co -seeded. Terrestrial. 



1. LITTORlfeLLA Bergius. 



Flowers monoecious. The staminate solitary, on a mostly simple naked 

 scape ; calyx 4-parted, longer than the cylindraceous 4-oleft corolla ; anthers ex- 

 serted, on very long capillary filaments. Pistillate flowers visually 2, sessile at 

 the base of the scape ; calyx "of 3 or 4 unequal sepals ; corolla urn-shaped, with 

 a 3-4-toothed orifice. Ovary with a single cell and ovule, tipped with a long 

 laterally stigmatic style, maturing as an achene. (Name from litus or lUtus, 

 shore, from the place of growth.) 



1. L. uniflbra (L.) Asch. Stoloniferous but otherwise stemless; leaves 

 terete, linear-subulate, 2-7 cm. long. (i. lacustris L.) — In water or on gravelly 

 shores, Nfd. to Me., Vt., Ont., and Minn.; very rare. (Eu.) 



2. PLANTAGO [Tourn.] L. Plantain. Riewokt 



Calyx of 4 imbricated persistent sepals, mostly with dry membranaceous 

 margins. Corolla salver-form or rotate, withering on the pod, the border i- 

 parted. Stamens 4, or rarely 2, in all or some flowers with long and weak 

 exserted filaments, and fugacious 2-celled anthers. Ovary 2 (or in no. 6 falsely 

 3-4)-oelled, with 1-several ovules in each cell. Style and long hairy stigma 

 single, filiform. Capsule 2-celled, 2-several-seeded, opening transversely, so 

 that the top falls off like a lid and the loose partition (which bears the peltate 

 seeds) falls away. Embryo straight, in fleshy albumen. — Leaves ribbed. 

 Flowers whitish, small, in a bracted spike or head, raised on a naked scape. 

 (The Latin name.) 



a. Corolla not closed over the fruit b. 



&. Seeds plump, not hollowed on the face c. 

 <J, Leaves with more or less dilated strongly ribhed blade. 



Ribs of the broad leaves rising from the midrib . . . . 1. P. oordata. 

 Kibs of the leaf free to the contracted base. 



Pod circumscissile near the middle 2. i*. major. 



Pod circumscissile much below the middle. 

 Sepals sharply carinate on the bacl^. 

 bpilte densely flowered ; capsule 4-9-seeded . . . . 8. P. Bugelii. 

 Spilte remotely flowered ; capsule 2-8eeded . . . . 4. P. sparsifiora. 

 Sepals rounded, not sharply carinate on the back . . , 6. P. eriopoda. 



0. Leaves linear to subterete, fleshy, obscurely ribbed . . . , 6. P. decipiens. 

 h. Seeds flattened, or hollowed on the &ce, or boat-shaped d. 



d. Leaves lanceolate to ovate, strongly ribbed. 



Leaves lanceolate to lance-oblong T. P. lanceolata. 



Leaves ovate to ovate-oblong 8. P. media. 



d. Leaves linear to setaceous. 



White, sillcy-lanate ; bracts not exceeding the calyx . . . 9. P. Purshii, 

 Green, loosely pubescent ; lower bracts much exceeding the calyx 10. P. arisiata, 

 a. Corolla (of fertile flowers) closed over the fruit. 



Leaves spatulate-lanceolate to obovMe ; stamens 4. 

 Fruiting calyx 1.5-2.6 mm. long; seed 0.8-1.5 mm, long . . .11. P, tiirginica . 

 Fruiting calyx 3-4 mm. long ; seed 2.5-3 mm. long . . . . 12, P. rhodosperma. 



Leaves linear to flliform ; stamens 2. 

 Capsule 4-seeded .... i ...... 13, P. elongata. 



Capsule 10-28-seeded 14. P. heterophyUa. 



§ 1. Stamens 4 ; flowers all perfect; corolla not closed over the fruit. 



* Flowers proterogynous, the style first projecting from the unopened corolla, 

 the anthers long-exserted after the corolla has opened ; seeds not hollowed 

 on the face (except in nos. 7 and 8). 



1. P. cordkta Lam. Tall, glabrous; leaves fleshy, heart-shaped or round- 

 ovate, 1-2.5 dm. long, long-petioled, the ribs arising from the midrib; spike at 

 length loosely flowered ; bracts round-ovate, fleshy ; capsule 2-4-seeded. — 

 Along streams, in wooded swamps, etc., N, Y, and Ont, to Iditm., and south w. 



