Plantago australis |
Plantago sempervirens |
|
---|---|---|
Mexican plantain |
evergreen plantain |
|
Habit | Perennials; caudex glabrous; roots fibrous, stout. | Perennials, sometimes woody; roots taproots, slender. |
Stems | 0–10 mm. |
100–400 mm, freely branched. |
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. |
cauline, opposite, 30–60 × 0.75–1 mm; blade linear to linear-lanceolate, margins entire, veins inconspicuous, surfaces hairy. |
Scapes | 30–560 mm, hairy, hairs antrorse, short. |
30–80 mm, hairy. |
Spikes | 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, 40–85 mm, densely flowered; bracts broadly ovate, 5–6 mm, lengths equal to sepals. |
Flowers | sepals 2–2.5 mm; corolla radially symmetric, lobes erect, forming a beak, 2–2.8 mm, base obtuse; stamens 4. |
sepals 5–6 mm; corolla radially symmetric, lobes reflexed, 3–3.5 mm, base obtuse; stamens 4. |
Seeds | 3, 1.2–2.2 mm. |
1 or 2, 2 mm. |
2n | = 24. |
= 12. |
Plantago australis |
Plantago sempervirens |
|
Phenology | Flowering summer. | Flowering summer–fall. |
Habitat | Open places. | Disturbed habitats. |
Elevation | 0–1000 m. [0–3300 ft.] | 0–200 m. [0–700 ft.] |
Distribution |
AZ; Mexico; Central America; South America
|
CA; s Europe [Introduced in North 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.) |
Plantago sempervirens is known from San Diego County; one specimen (JEPS) was collected in 2008 in Torrey Pines State Reserve. Plantago cynops Linnaeus (1762, not 1753), a rejected name, has been misapplied to P. sempervirens. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 284. | FNA vol. 17, p. 292. |
Parent taxa | ||
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) | Crantz: Inst. Rei Herb. 2: 331. (1766) |
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