Plantago australis |
Plantago coronopus |
|
---|---|---|
Mexican plantain |
buck's-horn plantain, buck-horn plantain, cut-leaf plantain |
|
Habit | Perennials; caudex glabrous; roots fibrous, stout. | Annuals, sometimes biennials; roots taproots, stout. |
Stems | 0–10 mm. |
0–10 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. |
20–80(–115) × 5–15 mm; blade lanceolate, margins usually 1- or 2-pinnatifid, veins conspicuous or not, surfaces villous, hairs septate, sometimes glabrate. |
Scapes | 30–560 mm, hairy, hairs antrorse, short. |
decumbent, sometimes erect, 15–150(–210) mm, villous. |
Spikes | greenish or brownish, 100–1000 mm, densely flowered; bracts narrowly triangular, 1.6–4.2 mm, length 0.8–1.5 times sepals. |
decumbent, sometimes erect, greenish, purplish, or brownish, (15–)30–300 mm, densely flowered; bracts ovate to lanceolate, 1.5–2 mm, length 0.5–0.6 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 2–3 mm; corolla radially symmetric, tube hairy, lobes reflexed, 1 mm, base obtuse; stamens 4. |
Seeds | 3, 1.2–2.2 mm. |
(2–)4 (plus 1 smaller, distal one of different shape), 1–1.5 mm. |
2n | = 24. |
= 10, 20, 30 (all Eurasia). |
Plantago australis |
Plantago coronopus |
|
Phenology | Flowering summer. | Flowering summer. |
Habitat | Open places. | Moist, gravelly or sandy soils. |
Elevation | 0–1000 m. [0–3300 ft.] | 0–200 m. [0–700 ft.] |
Distribution |
AZ; Mexico; Central America; South America
|
CA; MA; NJ; NY; OR; PA; TX; WA; BC; MB; Greenland; Eurasia; Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in s South America]
|
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.) |
|
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 284. | FNA vol. 17, p. 285. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | P. australis subsp. hirtella, P. hirtella, P. hirtella var. galeottiana, P. hirtella var. mollior | P. coronopus subsp. commutata |
Name authority | Lamarck: in J. Lamarck and J. L. M. Poiret, Tabl. Encycl. 1: 339. (1792) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 115. (1753) |
Web links |
|