The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Alaska plantain, seashore plantain

evergreen plantain

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

0–20 mm.

100–400 mm, freely branched.

Leaves

(80–)100–400(–550) × (5–)10–35(–40) mm;

blade oblanceolate or almost linear, margins entire, veins conspicuous, 4 or 5, surfaces glabrous.

cauline, opposite, 30–60 × 0.75–1 mm;

blade linear to linear-lanceolate, margins entire, veins inconspicuous, surfaces hairy.

Scapes

300–400 mm, glabrous or sparsely hairy, becoming densely so distally.

30–80 mm, hairy.

Spikes

greenish or brownish, 350–450 mm, loosely flowered;

bracts ovate to deltate, 3–4 mm, length 1.5–2.5 times sepals.

greenish or brownish, 40–85 mm, densely flowered;

bracts broadly ovate, 5–6 mm, lengths equal to sepals.

Flowers

sepals 1.5–2 mm;

corolla radially symmetric, lobes spreading, 1.5–2 mm, base obtuse;

stamens 4.

sepals 5–6 mm;

corolla radially symmetric, lobes reflexed, 3–3.5 mm, base obtuse;

stamens 4.

Fruits

ovoid, indehiscent or dehiscence not circumscissile.

Seeds

1 or 2, 4–5 mm.

1 or 2, 2 mm.

2n

= 24.

= 12.

Plantago macrocarpa

Plantago sempervirens

Phenology Flowering late spring–early summer. Flowering summer–fall.
Habitat Wet places, tidal marshes, saline areas. Disturbed habitats.
Elevation 0–700 m. (0–2300 ft.) 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; OR; WA; BC; Asia
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; s Europe [Introduced in North America]
Discussion

Plantago macrocarpa has been documented along the Pacific coast south to the mouth of the Yachats River in Oregon.

(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. 289. FNA vol. 17, p. 292.
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. hookeriana, P. indica, P. lanceolata, 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. cordata, 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. sparsiflora, P. subnuda, P. tweedyi, P. virginica, P. wrightiana
Name authority Chamisso & Schlechtendal: Linnaea 1: 166. (1826) Crantz: Inst. Rei Herb. 2: 331. (1766)
Web links