Plantago major
Plantago macrocarpa
common plantain, great plantain, nippleseed, plantain majeur
Alaska plantain, seashore 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.
(80–)100–400(–550) × (5–)10–35(–40) mm;
blade oblanceolate or almost linear, margins entire, veins conspicuous, 4 or 5, surfaces glabrous.
50–250(–500) mm, surpassing leaves or not, glabrous or hirsute.
300–400 mm, glabrous or sparsely hairy, becoming densely so distally.
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, 350–450 mm, loosely flowered;
bracts ovate to deltate, 3–4 mm, length 1.5–2.5 times sepals.
sepals 1.5–2 mm;
corolla radially symmetric, lobes reflexed, 0.5–1 mm, base obtuse;
stamens 4.
sepals 1.5–2 mm;
corolla radially symmetric, lobes spreading, 1.5–2 mm, base obtuse;
stamens 4.
(2–)4–5 mm, dehiscing at middle.
ovoid, indehiscent or dehiscence not circumscissile.
5–35, 0.5–1 mm.
1 or 2, 4–5 mm.
= 12.
= 24.
Plantago major
Plantago macrocarpa
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.)
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.)
- Local floras:
BC, 
CA, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos,
Flora NW, 
Go Botany, 
IL Wildflowers, 
KS Wildflowers, 
LA Plants, 
MD Biodiversity, 
MI Flora, 
MN Wildflowers, 
MO Plants, 
PNW Herbaria, Turner Photog. 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
- Local floras: BC, OR, WA
- Local Web sites: Flora NW, PNW Herbaria
- WildflowerSearch
- iNaturalist (observations)
- USDA Plants Database
- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
