Flora of North America species comparison

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Plantago indica

plantain des sables, sand plantain
Habit Annuals; roots taproots, slender.
Stems

100–350 mm, freely branched.
Leaves

cauline, opposite, 60–80 × 1–3 mm;

blade linear to linear-lanceolate, margins entire or toothed, veins conspicuous or not, surfaces hairy.
Scapes

100–650 mm, hairy.
Spikes

greenish or brownish, (50–)150–250 mm, densely flowered, eglandular;

bracts proximal strongly differing from distal, ovate, 2–5(–7) mm, length 1–1.5 times sepals, proximal bracts: apex acute.
Flowers

sepals 2–3 mm;

corolla radially symmetric, lobes reflexed, 2–4 mm, base obtuse;

stamens 4.
Seeds

2, 2–2.5 mm.
2n

= 12.

Plantago indica
Phenology Flowering late summer–fall.
Habitat Roadsides, railroads, sandy shorelines.
Elevation 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; CT; DE; IA; IL; IN; MA; ME; MI; MN; MO; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OR; PA; VA; VT; WA; WI; BC; MB; ON; QC; Eurasia [Introduced in North America]
Discussion

While considering the proposal made by W. L. Applequist (2006) to reject Plantago psyllium, the Nomenclature Committee for Vascular Plants also decided that P. indica is a legitimate name (R. K. Brummitt 2009). A. B. Doweld and A. Shipunov (2017) published a proposal to reject P. indica in favor of P. arenaria. That proposal awaits a decision by that committee.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 17, p. 288.
Parent taxa 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. hookeriana, 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. arenaria, P. psyllium
Name authority Linnaeus: Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 2: 896. 1759, legitimacy of — name in question
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

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