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glandular plantain

heart-leaf plantain

Habit Annuals; roots taproots, slender. Perennials; caudex well developed, conspicuous, glabrous; roots fibrous, thick.
Stems

100–350 mm, freely branched.

0–20 mm.

Leaves

cauline, opposite, 30–60 × 1–4 mm;

blade linear to linear-lanceolate, margins entire or slightly toothed, veins conspicuous or not, surfaces hairy.

100–300 × 80–200 mm;

petiole to 300 mm;

blade broadly oval to cordate-ovate, margins entire, veins conspicuous, laterals branching from midvein distal to base, surfaces glabrous.

Scapes

30–50 mm, hairy.

200–300 mm, glabrous.

Spikes

greenish or brownish, 40–65 mm, densely flowered, glandular-hairy;

bracts all similar, ovate, 3–5 mm, lengths 1–1.5 times sepals.

brownish or greenish, 100–500 mm, loosely flowered, rachis visible between flowers;

bracts round-ovate, 2 mm, length 0.8–1 times sepals.

Flowers

sepals 3–3.5 mm;

corolla radially symmetric, lobes reflexed, 2–3 mm, base obtuse;

stamens 4.

sepals 2–2.5 mm;

corolla radially symmetric, lobes spreading, 2–2.5 mm, base obtuse;

stamens 4.

Capsules

lanceoloid.

Seeds

2, 2–3 mm.

2–4, 2.5–3.5 mm.

2n

= 12.

= 24.

Plantago afra

Plantago cordata

Phenology Flowering summer. Flowering late spring–early summer.
Habitat Disturbed habitats. Rocky or gravelly beds of shallow, slow-moving streams, sloughs, swamps.
Elevation 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.) 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
MA; s Europe [Introduced in North America]
from FNA
AL; AR; DC; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KY; MD; MI; MO; MS; NC; NY; OH; TN; VA; WI; ON
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Plantago afra is known in Massachusetts from a single collection made in 1927 in Worcester County.

Plantago psyllium Linnaeus (1762, not 1753), a rejected name, and P. indica Linnaeus are misapplied names that pertain here. Plantago squalida Salisbury is an illegitimate name that pertains here.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Plantago cordata is listed as federally endangered in Canada and is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 17, p. 284. FNA vol. 17, p. 285.
Parent taxa Plantaginaceae > Plantago Plantaginaceae > Plantago
Sibling taxa
P. argyrea, P. aristata, P. australis, P. canescens, P. cordata, P. coronopus, P. elongata, P. erecta, P. eriopoda, P. firma, P. floccosa, P. helleri, P. heterophylla, P. hookeriana, P. indica, P. lanceolata, P. macrocarpa, P. major, P. maritima, P. media, P. ovata, P. patagonica, P. pusilla, P. rhodosperma, P. rugelii, P. sempervirens, P. sparsiflora, P. subnuda, P. tweedyi, P. virginica, P. wrightiana
P. afra, P. argyrea, P. aristata, P. australis, P. canescens, P. coronopus, P. elongata, P. erecta, P. eriopoda, P. firma, P. floccosa, P. helleri, P. heterophylla, P. hookeriana, P. indica, P. lanceolata, P. macrocarpa, P. major, P. maritima, P. media, P. ovata, P. patagonica, P. pusilla, P. rhodosperma, P. rugelii, P. sempervirens, P. sparsiflora, P. subnuda, P. tweedyi, P. virginica, P. wrightiana
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. ed. 2, 1: 168. (1762) Lamarck: in J. Lamarck and J. L. M. Poiret, Tabl. Encycl. 1: 338. (1792)
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