Plantago major
Plantago floccosa
common plantain, great plantain, nippleseed, plantain majeur
floccose plantain
0–20 mm.
0–30 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.
50–220 × 9–60 mm;
blade elliptic to narrowly elliptic, margins with inconspicuous teeth, veins conspicuous, surfaces hairy, adaxial surface hairs floccose, slender, 4–6 × 0.01–0.03 mm.
50–250(–500) mm, surpassing leaves or not, glabrous or hirsute.
55–220 mm, lanate, hairs variously directed, long.
brownish or greenish, (20–)50–300(–400) mm, densely flowered;
bracts lanceolate, 0.5–1 mm, length 0.3–0.7 times sepals.
greenish or brownish, 200–500 mm, densely flowered, flowers less crowded proximally;
bracts narrowly triangular or triangular, 2–2.8 mm, lengths 0.9–1 times sepals.
sepals 1.5–2 mm;
corolla radially symmetric, lobes reflexed, 0.5–1 mm, base obtuse;
stamens 4.
sepals 1.9–2.7 mm;
corolla radially symmetric, lobes erect, forming a beak, 2–2.9 mm, base obtuse;
stamens 4.
(2–)4–5 mm, dehiscing at middle.
5–35, 0.5–1 mm.
3, 1.8–2.4 mm.
= 12.
Plantago major
Plantago floccosa
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.)
According to J. Burkhalter (pers. comm.), Plantago floccosa is well established in northwestern Florida near the border with Alabama.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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