Plantago australis
Plantago afra
Mexican plantain
glandular plantain
0–10 mm.
100–350 mm, freely branched.
40–350 × 6–77 mm;
blade elliptic to narrowly elliptic, margins entire, veins conspicuous, surfaces pilose, rarely glabrate, adaxial surface hairs not floccose, less than 2 mm long, more than 0.03 mm wide.
cauline, opposite, 30–60 × 1–4 mm;
blade linear to linear-lanceolate, margins entire or slightly toothed, veins conspicuous or not, surfaces hairy.
30–560 mm, hairy, hairs antrorse, short.
30–50 mm, hairy.
greenish or brownish, 100–1000 mm, densely flowered;
bracts narrowly triangular, 1.6–4.2 mm, length 0.8–1.5 times sepals.
greenish or brownish, 40–65 mm, densely flowered, glandular-hairy;
bracts all similar, ovate, 3–5 mm, lengths 1–1.5 times sepals.
sepals 2–2.5 mm;
corolla radially symmetric, lobes erect, forming a beak, 2–2.8 mm, base obtuse;
stamens 4.
sepals 3–3.5 mm;
corolla radially symmetric, lobes reflexed, 2–3 mm, base obtuse;
stamens 4.
lanceoloid.
3, 1.2–2.2 mm.
2, 2–3 mm.
= 24.
= 12.
Plantago australis
Plantago afra
Plantago australis occurs in Cochise, Coconino, and Pima counties. Plantago australis is most diverse in South America, where as many as 16 subspecies (K. Rahn 1974) may be recognized. Plants from California identified as P. hirtella are most likely P. subnuda. However, since the most important distinguishing character of P. australis is the absence of the developed taproot (which is fragile and often broken in herbarium specimens), all these samples require careful examination. Further research is needed also to clarify the circumscriptions of P. australis and P. subnuda.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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.)
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