plantago PLANTAGINACEiE 561 



Order LXXIII PL ANT AGIN AC EM Lindl. Nat. Syst 267. 



Annual or perennial herbs with mostly radical leaves and 

 small flowers in bracted spikes or heads, or rarely solitary, on 

 scapes or scape-like peduncles. Calyx inferior, 4-parted, per- 

 sistent, the segments imbricated. Corolla scarious or mem- 

 branaceous, mostly marcescent. 4-lobed. Stamens 4 or 2, 

 filaments filiform: anthers versatile 2-celled, the cells dehiscent 

 longitudinally. Ovary 1-2-celled or falsely 3-4-celled, with 1 

 to several peltate-amphitropous ovules in each cell. Style 

 filiform, simple, mostly longitudinally stigmatic. Fruit a pyxis, 

 circumscissile at or below the middle, or an indehiscent nutlet. 

 Cotyledons but little broader than the radicle . 

 1 PLANTAGO Tourn. L. Sp. 112. 



Acaulescent or short-caulescent herbs with mostly radical par- 

 allel-veined leaves and small white or greenish flowers in terminal 

 spikes or heads. Calyx-segments equal, or 2 of them larger. 

 Corolla salverform, the tube cylindric, or constricted at the throat, 

 the limb spreading in rlower, spreading, erect or reflexe in fruit, 

 4-lobed or 4-parted. Stamens 4 or 2. Ovary 2-celled, or falsely 

 3-4-celled. Fruit a membranaceous capsule. Seed-coat develop- 

 ing copious mucilage when wetted. 



P. major L. Sp. 112. (Common Plantain). Glabrous or more or less 

 pubescent: rootstock perennial, short and thick, erect: leaves spreading 

 or ascending, the blade mostly ovate, obtuse or acutish, entire or coarsely 

 dentate, narrowed, rounded or cordate at base, 1-10 inches long, on petioles 

 often as long as the blade: scapes longer than the leaves: spikes linear- 

 cylindric, usually very dense and blunt at the summit, 2-10 inches long: 

 flowers perfect, proterogynous ; sepals broadly ovate, scarious on the mar- 

 gins, about half as long as the ovoid 5-16-seeded capsule, which is circum- 

 scissile near the middle: corolla-lobes spreading on the summit of the 

 capsule : anthers long-exserted on capillar}' filaments. Common in gardens 

 and waysides. 



P. Asiatica L. Sp. 113. Leaves ovate or oval, several-ribbed, the base 

 abruptly contracted into a distinct petiole, not fleshy : rootstock short and 

 thick, perennial: scapes longer than the leaves: spikes 2-20 inches long, 

 dense, linear-cylindrical: stamens 4, long-exserted : capsule globose-ovoid, 

 cicumscissile near the base and much within the calyx. Near the coast 

 California to Alaska. 



P. eriopoda Torr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. ii, 237. Perennial : base of the 

 leaves and scapes densely invested with long rusty brown wool : leaves 

 broadly lanceolate, 4-6 inches long, 1-2 inches broad, attenuate at each 

 end, acute, entire, smooth, distinctly 5-nerved, long-petioled : scapes 6-12 

 inches high, terete, very glabrous: spikes cylindrical, 3-6 inches long, of 

 rather remote perfect flowers: bracts broadly ovate, obtusish : style and 

 stamens long-exserted: capsule 2-celled, 4-5-seeded ; seeds not hollowed. 

 Eastern Washington to California and Colorado. 



P. macrocarpa Cham. & Schl. Linn, i, 106. Leaves lanceolate, acute 

 5-7-nerved, 5-15 inches long, 4-18 lines wide gradually tapering below 

 into long margined petioles, often some of the outer ones linear and with 

 a dilated base much broader than the blade: rootstock thick, perennial: 

 scapes equalling or surpassing the leaves, densely woolly above: spikes 



