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English plantain

buck-horn plantain

Habit Fibrous-rooted perennial from a short, stout, woody base, tan-woolly at the crown, the several scapes 1.5-6 dm. tall, grooved and ridged.
Leaves

Leaves all basal, woolly to glabrous, 3- to several-nerved, lance-elliptic, acute, 10-40 cm. long and 1-4 cm. wide.

Flowers

Inflorescence a dense, bracteate, cylindric spike, 1.5-8 cm. long and 1 cm. wide;

bracts thin, ovate, acuminate; the 4 sepals with strong mid-veins, the outer two united, with separate mid-veins;

corolla lobes 4, 2-2.5 mm. long, spreading or reflexed;

stamens 4, exerted;

ovary superior, 2-celled.

Fruits

Capsule 3-4 mm. long

Plantago lanceolata

Plantago coronopus

Flowering time April-August May-October
Habitat Roadsides, fields, and other disturbed, open areas. Occasional at low elevations along the coast in sandy or disturbed areas.
Distribution
Occuring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east across North America to the Atlantic Coast; cosmopolitan.
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Occurring west of the Cascades crest along the coast in Washington; British Columbia to California; also in Manitoba, Texas, and northeastern U.S.
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Origin Introduced from Europe Introduced from Eurasia and northern Africa
Conservation status Not of concern Not of concern
Sibling taxa
P. arenaria, P. coronopus, P. elongata, P. macrocarpa, P. major, P. maritima, P. patagonica, P. pusilla, P. subnuda
P. arenaria, P. elongata, P. lanceolata, P. macrocarpa, P. major, P. maritima, P. patagonica, P. pusilla, P. subnuda
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