Plantago major
Plantago elongata
common plantain, great plantain, nippleseed, plantain majeur
coastal plantain, prairie plantain, slender plantain
0–20 mm.
0–5(–7) 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.
10–70 × (0.8–)1–2 mm;
blade linear to almost filiform, margins entire, veins conspicuous or not, surfaces glabrous or hairy.
50–250(–500) mm, surpassing leaves or not, glabrous or hirsute.
10–80 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.
greenish, brownish, or gray, (30–)50–150 mm, densely or loosely flowered;
bracts 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 spreading or reflexed, not forming a beak, 0.5–1 mm, base obtuse;
stamens 2.
(2–)4–5 mm, dehiscing at middle.
5–35, 0.5–1 mm.
(3 or)4–9(–12), 1.5–2.5 mm.
= 12.
= 12, 20, 36.
Plantago major
Plantago elongata
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.)
Purported differences between Plantago bigelovii and P. elongata (I. J. Bassett 1966) do not appear to be taxonomically meaningful.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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