Plantago australis |
Plantago canescens |
|
---|---|---|
Mexican plantain |
arctic plantain, gray-pubescent plantain, Siberian plantain |
|
Habit | Perennials; caudex glabrous; roots fibrous, stout. | Perennials; caudex usually woolly; roots taproots, thick. |
Stems | 0–10 mm. |
0–20 mm. |
Leaves | 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. |
ascending, 180–250 × 6–20 mm; blade linear to lanceolate or oblanceolate, margins entire, rarely toothed, veins conspicuous, surfaces glabrate or hairy, hairs 1 mm. |
Scapes | 30–560 mm, hairy, hairs antrorse, short. |
50–230 mm, not groove-angled, hairy or glabrous. |
Spikes | greenish or brownish, 100–1000 mm, densely flowered; bracts narrowly triangular, 1.6–4.2 mm, length 0.8–1.5 times sepals. |
grayish or whitish, 80–350 mm, usually densely flowered, shiny; corolla lobes of neighboring flowers often overlapping; bracts broadly ovate, 1.8–2 mm, length 0.9–1 times sepals. |
Flowers | sepals 2–2.5 mm; corolla radially symmetric, lobes erect, forming a beak, 2–2.8 mm, base obtuse; stamens 4. |
sepals 2 mm, adaxial 2 nearly distinct; corolla radially symmetric, lobes reflexed, 2 mm, base obtuse; stamens 4. |
Seeds | 3, 1.2–2.2 mm. |
3–7, 1–1.8 mm. |
2n | = 24. |
= 12. |
Plantago australis |
Plantago canescens |
|
Phenology | Flowering summer. | Flowering summer. |
Habitat | Open places. | Grassy, gravelly, and rocky slopes, cliffs. |
Elevation | 0–1000 m. (0–3300 ft.) | 0–2000 m. (0–6600 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; Mexico; Central America; South America
|
AK; MT; AB; BC; NT; NU; YT; Asia |
Discussion | 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.) |
N. N. Tzvelev (1983) recognized six subspecies (including two in North America) within Plantago canescens; North American material is not segregated as such here. (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 | ||
Synonyms | P. australis subsp. hirtella, P. hirtella, P. hirtella var. galeottiana, P. hirtella var. mollior | P. septata |
Name authority | Lamarck: in J. Lamarck and J. L. M. Poiret, Tabl. Encycl. 1: 339. (1792) | Adams: Nouv. Mém. Soc. Imp. Naturalistes Moscou 9: 233, plate 13, fig. 1. (1834) |
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