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California plantain, Hooker's plantain, tallow weed

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

60–120 × 4–10 mm;

blade linear, margins toothed (teeth to 4 mm), rarely entire, veins conspicuous or not, surfaces villous or sericeous.

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

280–580 mm, hairy, hairs antrorse, long and short.

200–300 mm, glabrous.

Spikes

greenish or brownish, 50–180 mm, densely flowered, flowers in whorls or pairs;

bracts ovate or triangular, 1.5–6 mm, length 0.6–1.4 times sepals, apex acute or acuminate.

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 2.5–4 mm;

corolla bilaterally symmetric, abaxial and lateral lobes reflexed, adaxial erect, 2.2–2.5 mm, base slightly cordate;

stamens 4, connective significantly elongated, apex acute.

sepals 2–2.5 mm;

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

stamens 4.

Seeds

2, 2.4–3.4 mm.

2–4, 2.5–3.5 mm.

2n

= 20.

= 24.

Plantago hookeriana

Plantago cordata

Phenology Flowering spring. Flowering late spring–early summer.
Habitat Sandy soils, disturbed areas. Rocky or gravelly beds of shallow, slow-moving streams, sloughs, swamps.
Elevation 0–1300 m. (0–4300 ft.) 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
LA; MS; TX; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas)
[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. heterophylla, 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
Synonyms P. hookeriana var. nuda
Name authority Fischer & C. A. Meyer: Index Seminum (St. Petersburg) 1838: 39. (1839) Lamarck: in J. Lamarck and J. L. M. Poiret, Tabl. Encycl. 1: 338. (1792)
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