Plantago major
Plantago eriopoda
common plantain, great plantain, nippleseed, plantain majeur
alkali plantain, hairy fruit plantain, plantain à base velue, redwool plantain, saline plantain
0–20 mm.
0–20 mm.
20–150(–400) × 10–120(–170) mm;
petiole to 200 mm;
blade ovate to cordate-ovate, margins entire or toothed, veins conspicuous, surfaces glabrous or hirsute.
(30–)50–250 × (5–)15–70 mm;
blade lanceolate to elliptic, margins entire, veins conspicuous, laterals branching from base, surfaces glabrous or hairy.
50–250(–500) mm, surpassing leaves or not, glabrous or hirsute.
(40–)50–300 mm, glabrous or hairy.
brownish or greenish, (20–)50–300(–400) mm, densely flowered;
bracts lanceolate, 0.5–1 mm, length 0.3–0.7 times sepals.
brownish or greenish, (25–)80–500 mm, loosely flowered, rachis visible between flowers;
bracts broadly ovate, 2–2.5 mm, length 0.8–1.2 times sepals.
sepals 1.5–2 mm;
corolla radially symmetric, lobes reflexed, 0.5–1 mm, base obtuse;
stamens 4.
sepals 2–2.5 mm;
corolla radially symmetric, lobes reflexed, 1–1.5 mm, base obtuse;
stamens 4.
(2–)4–5 mm, dehiscing at middle.
5–35, 0.5–1 mm.
2–4, 2–2.5 mm.
= 12.
= 24.
Plantago major
Plantago eriopoda
Subspecies intermedia (Gilibert) Lange is often accepted by European botanists as a separate species, Plantago uliginosa F. W. Schmidt. Observations suggest that plants referable to this taxon may occur in the United States; it has been reported from the New England states (A. Haines 2011). Subspecies intermedia is distinguished by more abundant (11–35) and smaller (0.8–1 mm) seeds, ascending spikes, ovoid fruits, and elliptic or lanceolate leaf blades. Without detailed morphologic and genetic investigations of North American plants similar to the study of European plants by M. Morgan-Richards and K. Wolff (1999), it is not possible to draw any conclusions about the status and distribution of this or any other possible infraspecific taxa of P. major in North America.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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