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Alaska plantain, common plantain, goose tongue, maritime plantain, plantain maritime, salt marsh plantain, sea plantain, seaside plantain

dwarf plantain, pale-seed plantain, paleseed indianwheat, Virginia plantain

Habit Perennials, rarely annuals; caudex absent or well developed, conspicuous, glabrous or hairy; roots taproots, thick. Annuals; roots taproots, slender.
Stems

0–40 mm, usually branched.

0–20 mm.

Leaves

10–220 × (1–)10–15 mm;

blade linear to lanceolate, margins entire or toothed, veins not conspicuous, surfaces glabrous, sometimes hairy.

20–120 × 4–25 mm;

blade obovate or narrowly obovate, margins toothed, veins conspicuous, surfaces pilose or glabrate.

Scapes

40–120 mm, glabrous or hirsute.

30–240 mm, hairy, hairs patent, 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 yellowish, 38–260 mm, densely or loosely flowered;

bracts narrowly ovate or ovate, 1.6–2.5 mm, length 0.7–1 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 1.5–2.4 mm, apex obtuse;

corolla radially symmetric, lobes erect, forming a beak, 1.1–2.9 mm, base obtuse;

stamens 4.

Seeds

1–3, 1.5–3 mm.

2, brown or yellowish brown, 1.6–2 mm, adaxial face deeply concave.

2n

= 24.

= 24.

Plantago maritima

Plantago virginica

Phenology Flowering summer. Flowering spring–early summer.
Habitat Marine shorelines, crevices of large rocks in sea spray, coastal and inland salt marshes, alkaline and saline flats, roadsides. Sandy soils, disturbed areas.
Elevation 0–800 m. (0–2600 ft.) 0–2300 m. (0–7500 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
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
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; NE; NJ; NM; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; VA; WI; WV; ON; n Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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.)

Source FNA vol. 17, p. 289. FNA vol. 17, p. 293.
Parent taxa Plantaginaceae > Plantago Plantaginaceae > Plantago
Sibling taxa
P. afra, P. argyrea, P. aristata, P. australis, P. canescens, P. cordata, P. coronopus, P. elongata, P. erecta, P. eriopoda, P. firma, P. floccosa, P. helleri, P. heterophylla, P. hookeriana, P. indica, P. lanceolata, P. macrocarpa, P. major, P. media, P. ovata, P. patagonica, P. pusilla, P. rhodosperma, P. rugelii, P. sempervirens, P. sparsiflora, P. subnuda, P. tweedyi, P. virginica, P. wrightiana
P. afra, P. argyrea, P. aristata, P. australis, P. canescens, P. cordata, P. coronopus, P. elongata, P. erecta, P. eriopoda, P. firma, P. floccosa, P. helleri, P. heterophylla, P. hookeriana, P. indica, P. lanceolata, P. macrocarpa, P. major, P. maritima, P. media, P. ovata, P. patagonica, P. pusilla, P. rhodosperma, P. rugelii, P. sempervirens, P. sparsiflora, P. subnuda, P. tweedyi, P. wrightiana
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 P. virginica var. viridescens
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 114. (1753) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 113. (1753)
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