Plantago maritima |
Plantago floccosa |
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Alaska plantain, common plantain, goose tongue, maritime plantain, plantain maritime, salt marsh plantain, sea plantain, seaside plantain |
floccose plantain |
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Habit | Perennials, rarely annuals; caudex absent or well developed, conspicuous, glabrous or hairy; roots taproots, thick. | Perennials; caudex well developed, conspicuous, glabrous or hairy; roots several taproots, fragile. |
Stems | 0–40 mm, usually branched. |
0–30 mm. |
Leaves | 10–220 × (1–)10–15 mm; blade linear to lanceolate, margins entire or toothed, veins not conspicuous, surfaces glabrous, sometimes hairy. |
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. |
Scapes | 40–120 mm, glabrous or hirsute. |
55–220 mm, lanate, hairs variously directed, long. |
Spikes | greenish or brownish, (15–)50–200(–290) mm, densely or loosely flowered; bracts broadly ovate, 1.5–4(–6) mm, length 0.8–1.2 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. |
Flowers | sepals 1.5–3.5 mm; corolla radially symmetric, tube hairy, lobes reflexed, 1–1.5 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. |
Seeds | 1–3, 1.5–3 mm. |
3, 1.8–2.4 mm. |
2n | = 24. |
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Plantago maritima |
Plantago floccosa |
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Phenology | Flowering summer. | Flowering spring–fall. |
Habitat | Marine shorelines, crevices of large rocks in sea spray, coastal and inland salt marshes, alkaline and saline flats, roadsides. | Roadsides. |
Elevation | 0–800 m. (0–2600 ft.) | 0–300 m. (0–1000 ft.) |
Distribution |
AK; CA; CT; MA; ME; NH; NJ; NY; OR; RI; VA; WA; AB; BC; MB; NB; NL; NS; NT; NU; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; SPM; Mexico; Central America; South America; Greenland; Eurasia; Africa
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FL; Mexico (Hidalgo, México, Querétaro, San Luis Potosi, Tamaulipas, Veracruz) [Introduced in North America] |
Discussion | Plantago maritima has been reported from Utah; no specimen supporting that report has been found. Since the 1930s, when Plantago maritima was shown to have high levels of phenotypic plasticity (J. W. Gregor and J. M. S. Lang 1950), it usually has been accepted in a broad sense. That approach is followed here, with all dwarf and loose-flowered forms (such as P. borealis and P. decipiens, respectively) included under this name. (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.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 289. | FNA vol. 17, p. 287. |
Parent taxa | Plantaginaceae > Plantago | Plantaginaceae > Plantago |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | P. borealis, P. decipiens, P. juncoides, P. juncoides var. californica, P. juncoides var. decipiens, P. juncoides var. glauca, P. juncoides var. laurentiana, P. maritima subsp. borealis, P. maritima var. californica, P. maritima var. decipiens, P. maritima var. glauca, P. maritima subsp. juncoides, P. maritima var. juncoides, P. oliganthos, P. oliganthos var. fallax | |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 114. (1753) | Decaisne: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 13(1): 723. (1852) |
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