PLAXTAGO FAMILY. 391 



1. P. hirtella H.B.K. Root tliick; herbage roughish pubescent, especially 

 the Beapes and Leaf-ribs; leaves oblong-oblanceolate to narrowly oblong, taper- 

 ing to apex and below into a broad petiole, 3 to 12 in. long and % to 3% in. 

 wide; spikes li to 12 in. long, dense except at the base; corolla persistent, its 

 lobes closed over the capsule, forming a sort of* beak; seeds ■'<. 



Clay banks along the coast: Marin Co. and San Francisco southward to 

 Southern California. 



2. P. lanceolata L. Ribwort. English Plantain. Perennial; heijbage 

 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, 

 3% to 6 in. long; scape longer than the leaves, sulcate and angular, erect; 

 spike short-cylindrical, % to 2 in. long; corolla nearly rotate; sepals scarious, 

 the two lower often combined into one; stamens twice as long as the corolla, 

 with slender filaments; capsule 2-seeded. 



Common about San Francisco Bay. A naturalized European species which 

 has seriously diminished the carrying capacity of cattle pastures in the Pt. 

 Reyes country and northward to Humboldt. 



3. P. major L. Common Plantain. Glabrous perennial; rootstock 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; scapes not as long as the leaves, rarely longer, bearing an 

 elongated spike often 8 in. long; sepals green in the middle, the edges scarious; 

 capsule 2-celled with 4 to 8 seeds in each cell, circumscissile near the middle. 



Not uncommon in low fields and waste places. Probably introduced from 

 Europe. Called by the Indians "White Man's Foot," since it has closely 

 followed the advance of civilization, springing up about the earliest frontier 

 settlements. It has repute in rustic medicine for the cure of certain cutaneous 

 disorders. Var. asla.tica Dec; leaves in a rosette-like cluster, the petiole about 

 1 in. long or less ; peduncles surpassing the leaves ; spike below less dense ; 

 capsule circumscissile near the base and well within the calyx. — Stockton; Sierra 

 Nevada. 



4. P. maritima L. Sea Plantain. Low stout maritime perennials with 

 many thick and fleshy linear or narrowly linear leaves; scapes ascending, 3 to 

 4, rarely 6 to 7 in. long, equaling or exceeding the leaves; spike cylindrical, 

 1% to 2 or 3 in. long; sepals somewhat carinate; corolla-tube pubescent exter- 

 nally; capsules 2 to 4-seeded. 



< lift's and rocks near the sea: Santa Cruz; San Francisco; West Berkeley. 



5. P. patagonica Jacq. var. californica Greene. Annual, silky-pubescent, 

 4 to 5 in. high; leaves narrowly linear to oblanceolate, about % the length of 

 the scapes, rarely equaling them, less than 1 to nearly 3 lines wide; spike 

 dense and short, oblong, or even almost capitate, 4 to G lines long; sepals obtuse, 

 scariously margined and with a firm and broadly linear central portion; capsule 

 2-seeded; seeds oblong-oval with a pronounced ventral sulcus, and tough 

 leathery testa. 



Very common on hillsides everywhere. Apr. -May. Fr. June. 



6. P. bigelovii Gray. Slender glabrous annual, 3 to 5 in. high; leaves 

 linear or filiform, commonly shorter than the scapes, less than 2 lines broad, 

 both scapes and leaves erect; fruiting spike % to 1 ' (j in. long, about 1% lines 

 wide; stamens 2; capsule ovoid-oblong, 1 to I ' •_> lines long, circumscissile much 

 below the middle (well within the calyx), 4-seeded, occasionally a fifth seed; 



winged at one end. 



