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glandular plantain

Alaska plantain, seashore 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.

(80–)100–400(–550) × (5–)10–35(–40) mm;

blade oblanceolate or almost linear, margins entire, veins conspicuous, 4 or 5, surfaces glabrous.

Scapes

30–50 mm, hairy.

300–400 mm, glabrous or sparsely hairy, becoming densely so distally.

Spikes

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

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

greenish or brownish, 350–450 mm, loosely flowered;

bracts ovate to deltate, 3–4 mm, length 1.5–2.5 times sepals.

Flowers

sepals 3–3.5 mm;

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

stamens 4.

sepals 1.5–2 mm;

corolla radially symmetric, lobes spreading, 1.5–2 mm, base obtuse;

stamens 4.

Fruits

ovoid, indehiscent or dehiscence not circumscissile.

Capsules

lanceoloid.

Seeds

2, 2–3 mm.

1 or 2, 4–5 mm.

2n

= 12.

= 24.

Plantago afra

Plantago macrocarpa

Phenology Flowering summer. Flowering late spring–early summer.
Habitat Disturbed habitats. Wet places, tidal marshes, saline areas.
Elevation 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.) 0–700 m. (0–2300 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
MA; s Europe [Introduced in North America]
from FNA
AK; OR; WA; BC; Asia
[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 macrocarpa has been documented along the Pacific coast south to the mouth of the Yachats River in Oregon.

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

Source FNA vol. 17, p. 284. FNA vol. 17, p. 289.
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. cordata, P. coronopus, P. elongata, P. erecta, P. eriopoda, P. firma, P. floccosa, P. helleri, P. heterophylla, P. hookeriana, P. indica, P. lanceolata, 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) Chamisso & Schlechtendal: Linnaea 1: 166. (1826)
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