Flora of North America species comparison

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Plantago rugelii

blackseed plantain, plantain de Rugel, Rugel's plantain
Habit Perennials, sometimes annuals; caudex absent; roots fibrous, thick.
Stems

0–20 mm.
Leaves

20–150 × 10–120 mm;

petiole to 200 mm;

blade ovate to cordate-ovate, margins entire or toothed, veins conspicuous, surfaces glabrous or hirsute.
Scapes

50–250 mm, glabrous or hirsute.
Spikes

brownish or greenish, 50–300 mm, densely or loosely flowered;

bracts narrowly lanceolate, 2 mm, length 1–1.2 times sepals.
Flowers

sepals 1.5–2 mm;

corolla radially symmetric, lobes reflexed, 0.5–1 mm, base obtuse;

stamens 4.
Fruits

4–6(–8) mm, dehiscing proximal to middle.
Seeds

4 or 5(–8), 1.5–2 mm.
2n

= 24.

Plantago rugelii
Phenology Flowering summer.
Habitat Open woods, meadows, pastures, waste places.
Elevation 0–2000 m. (0–6600 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; VA; VT; WI; WV; NB; NS; ON; QC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Plants of Plantago major and P. rugelii are morphologically indistinguishable when young; they may be differentiated with certainty only at fruiting stage. DNA sequence data (A. Shipunov et al. 2014) confirm that the two species are distinct: P. rugelii is different from P. major by 11 substitutions in the ITS2 sequence.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 17, p. 292.
Parent taxa 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. maritima, P. media, P. ovata, P. patagonica, P. pusilla, P. rhodosperma, P. sempervirens, P. sparsiflora, P. subnuda, P. tweedyi, P. virginica, P. wrightiana
Name authority Decaisne: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 13(1): 700. (1852)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

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