PLANTAGINE^E. 



681 



the flower-stalk is often a foot high or 

 more, and the slender teeth of the calyx 

 are much longer than in the common T. 

 On sandy heaths and wastes, in west- 

 ern Europe, extending northward to 

 the English Channel and eastward to 

 the Rhine. In our flora only in the 

 Channel Islands. Fl. summer. 



Fig. 819. 



LVIII. PLANTAIN FAMILY. PLANTAGINE^l. 



Herbs, with radical, tufted or spreading leaves, and leafless 

 flower-stalks, bearing a simple spike or a single terminal flower 

 (the stem in some exotic species becoming elongated, branched, 

 and leafy). Sepals 4. Corolla small, scarious, with an ovate or 

 cylindrical tube, and 4 spreading lobes. Stamens 4, alternating 

 with the lobes of the corolla, and usually very long. Ovary 1-, 2-, 

 or 4-celled, with one or more ovules in each cell, and terminating 

 in a long, simple style. Capsule opening transversely or inde- 

 hiscent. 



A small Order, widely spread over the globe, but most abundant in 

 the temperate regions of the old world. 



Flowers hermaphrodite, in terminal heads or spikes . . . . 1. Plantain. 

 Flowers unisexual, solitary or two together, the males stalked, 



the female sessile amongst the leaves 2. Littoeel. 



I. PLANTAIN. PLANTAGO. 



Flowers hermaphrodite, in heads or spikes on a leafless peduncle. 

 Capsule 2- or 4-celled, with 2 or more seeds. 



VOL. II. p 



