Plantago australis |
Plantago cordata |
|
---|---|---|
Mexican plantain |
heart-leaf plantain |
|
Habit | Perennials; caudex glabrous; roots fibrous, stout. | Perennials; caudex well developed, conspicuous, glabrous; roots fibrous, 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. |
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 | 30–560 mm, hairy, hairs antrorse, short. |
200–300 mm, 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. |
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 2–2.5 mm; corolla radially symmetric, lobes erect, forming a beak, 2–2.8 mm, base obtuse; stamens 4. |
sepals 2–2.5 mm; corolla radially symmetric, lobes spreading, 2–2.5 mm, base obtuse; stamens 4. |
Seeds | 3, 1.2–2.2 mm. |
2–4, 2.5–3.5 mm. |
2n | = 24. |
= 24. |
Plantago australis |
Plantago cordata |
|
Phenology | Flowering summer. | Flowering late spring–early summer. |
Habitat | Open places. | Rocky or gravelly beds of shallow, slow-moving streams, sloughs, swamps. |
Elevation | 0–1000 m. (0–3300 ft.) | 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; Mexico; Central America; South America
|
AL; AR; DC; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KY; MD; MI; MO; MS; NC; NY; OH; TN; VA; WI; ON
|
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.) |
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 | ||
Synonyms | P. australis subsp. hirtella, P. hirtella, P. hirtella var. galeottiana, P. hirtella var. mollior | |
Name authority | Lamarck: in J. Lamarck and J. L. M. Poiret, Tabl. Encycl. 1: 339. (1792) | Lamarck: in J. Lamarck and J. L. M. Poiret, Tabl. Encycl. 1: 338. (1792) |
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