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slender plantain

heart-leaf plantain

Habit Annuals; roots taproots, slender. Perennials; caudex well developed, conspicuous, glabrous; roots fibrous, thick.
Stems

0–10 mm.

0–20 mm.

Leaves

30–80 × 1–4 mm;

blade linear, margins lobed, rarely entire, veins conspicuous or not, surfaces hairy, sometimes glabrous.

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

5–60 mm, hairy, sometimes glabrous.

200–300 mm, glabrous.

Spikes

greenish or brownish, 50–150 mm, loosely or densely flowered;

bracts ovate, 2 mm, length 0.9–1.1 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 mm;

corolla radially symmetric, lobes spreading, 0.5–1 mm, base obtuse;

stamens 2.

sepals 2–2.5 mm;

corolla radially symmetric, lobes spreading, 2–2.5 mm, base obtuse;

stamens 4.

Seeds

10–25(–30), 0.5–0.8 mm.

2–4, 2.5–3.5 mm.

2n

= 12.

= 24.

Plantago heterophylla

Plantago cordata

Phenology Flowering spring–early summer. Flowering late spring–early summer.
Habitat Moist sandy soils. Rocky or gravelly beds of shallow, slow-moving streams, sloughs, swamps.
Elevation 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.) 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; DE; FL; GA; IL; KS; KY; LA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NY; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA [Introduced in South America (Argentina)]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; DC; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KY; MD; MI; MO; MS; NC; NY; OH; TN; VA; WI; ON
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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. 287. FNA vol. 17, p. 285.
Parent taxa Plantaginaceae > Plantago Plantaginaceae > Plantago
Sibling taxa
P. afra, P. argyrea, P. aristata, P. australis, P. canescens, P. cordata, P. coronopus, P. elongata, P. erecta, P. eriopoda, P. firma, P. floccosa, P. helleri, P. hookeriana, P. indica, P. lanceolata, P. macrocarpa, P. major, P. maritima, P. media, P. ovata, P. patagonica, P. pusilla, P. rhodosperma, P. rugelii, P. sempervirens, P. sparsiflora, P. subnuda, P. tweedyi, P. virginica, P. wrightiana
P. afra, P. argyrea, P. aristata, P. australis, P. canescens, P. coronopus, P. elongata, P. erecta, P. eriopoda, P. firma, P. floccosa, P. helleri, P. heterophylla, P. hookeriana, P. indica, P. lanceolata, P. macrocarpa, P. major, P. maritima, P. media, P. ovata, P. patagonica, P. pusilla, P. rhodosperma, P. rugelii, P. sempervirens, P. sparsiflora, P. subnuda, P. tweedyi, P. virginica, P. wrightiana
Name authority Nuttall: Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., n.s. 5: 177. (1835) Lamarck: in J. Lamarck and J. L. M. Poiret, Tabl. Encycl. 1: 338. (1792)
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