Plantago

Greater plantain Plantago major, copyright Robert Flogaus-Faust.

Belongs within: Plantaginaceae.

Plantago, plantains, is a cosmopolitan genus of wind-pollinated herbs.

Characters (from Hickman 1993): Annual or perennial. Stem decumbent to erect. Leaves simple with longitudinal ribs; stipules absent. Inflorescence a spike; flowers each subtended by a bract. Flowers generally bisexual; calyx deeply four-lobed; corolla radial, sometimes bilateral, lobes 4, scarious, persistent; stamens colorless, alternate corolla lobes, epipetalous; ovary superior, ovules several per chamber, style 1, stigma long, hairy. Fruit a capsule, circumscissile more or less at or below middle. Seeds 2–many, gelatinous when wet.

<==Plantago Linnaeus 1753 A61
    |--P. afra PT98
    |--P. albicans Y98
    |--P. aristata H93
    |--P. asiatica MH98
    |--P. aucklandica Hooker 1844 A61
    |--P. barbata A61
    |--P. bellardii BR65
    |--P. coronopus BR65
    |--P. cretica PT98
    |--P. debilis GK00
    |--P. elongata [incl. P. bigelovii, P. elongata ssp. pentasperma] H93
    |--P. erecta [incl. P. bigelovii ssp. californica, P. hookeriana var. californica, P. erecta ssp. rigidior] H93
    |--P. eriopoda H93
    |--P. erosa O88
    |--P. exilis GK00
    |--P. hirtella C06
    |--P. hispidula G04
    |--P. indica H93
    |--P. lagopus PT98
    |--P. lanceolata OP01
    |--P. lanigera Hooker 1864 [incl. P. lanigera var. petriei Cheeseman 1906] A61
    |--P. major [incl. P. major var. pilgeri, P. major var. scopulorum] H93
    |--P. maritima (see below for synonymy) H93
    |--P. media HS98
    |--P. montana C55
    |--P. muelleri A61
    |--P. novae-zelandiae Moore in Allan 1961 A61
    |--P. ovata [incl. P. insularis var. fastigiata, P. insularis] H93
    |--P. patagonica [incl. P. purshii var. oblonga] H93
    |--P. picta Colenso 1890 [incl. P. viridis ms] A61
    |--P. psyllium BR65
    |--P. pusilla H93
    |--P. (sect. Mesembrynia) raoullii Decne in DC. 1852 [incl. P. dasyphylla Colenso 1892] A61
    |--P. rigida RJ11
    |--P. spathulata Hooker 1854 A61
    |--P. subnuda [incl. P. hirtella var. galeottiana] H93
    |--P. subulata C74
    |--P. tasmanica A61
    |--P. tibetica SS72
    |--P. (sect. Microcalyx) triandra Bergg. 1877 [incl. P. hamiltoni Kirk 1879, P. masonae Cheeseman 1921] A61
    |--P. triantha Spreng. 1825 (see below for synonymy) A61
    |--P. truncata H93
    |    |--P. t. ssp. truncata H93
    |    `--P. t. ssp. firma H93
    |--P. uniflora Hooker 1854 [=P. triantha var. uniflora (Hooker) Pilger 1937] A61
    |--P. varia BR65
    |--P. virginica [incl. P. rhodosperma] H93
    `--P. weldenii PT98

Plantago maritima [incl. P. maritima var. californica non P. bigelovii ssp. californica, P. maritima var. juncoides] H93

Plantago triantha Spreng. 1825 [incl. P. brownii Rapin 1827, P. carnosa Br. 1810 non Lam. 1791, P. subantarctica Cockayne 1928] A61

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[A61] Allan, H. H. 1961. Flora of New Zealand vol. 1. Indigenous Tracheophyta: Psilopsida, Lycopsida, Filicopsida, Gymnospermae, Dicotyledones. R. E. Owen, Government Printer: Wellington (New Zealand).

[BR65] Black, J. M., & E. L. Robertson. 1965. Flora of South Australia. Part IV. Oleaceae–Compositae. W. L. Hawes, Government Printer: Adelaide.

[C55] Candolle, A. de. 1855. Géographie Botanique Raisonée: Ou exposition des faits principaux et des lois concernant la distribution géographique des plantes de l’époque actuelle vol. 1. Librairie de Victor Masson: Paris.

[C06] Cheeseman, T. F. 1906. Manual of the New Zealand Flora. John Mackay, Government Printer: Wellington.

[C74] Coineau, Y. 1974. Éléments pour une monographie morphologique, écologique et biologique des Caeculidae (Acariens). Mémoires du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, nouvelle série, Série A, Zoologie 81: 1–299, 24 pls.

[G04] Gibson, N. 2004. Flora and vegetation of the Eastern Goldfields Ranges: part 6. Mt Manning Range. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 87 (2): 35–47.

[GK00] Gibson, N., & G. J. Keighery. 2000. Flora and vegetation of the Byenup-Muir reserve system, south-west Western Australia. CALMScience 3 (3): 323–402.

[H93] Hickman, J. C. (ed.) 1993. The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California. University of California Press: Berkeley (California).

[HS98] Husband, B. C., & D. W. Schemske. 1998. Cytotype distribution at a diploid-tetraploid contact zone in Chamerion (Epilobium) angustifolium (Onagraceae). American Journal of Botany 85: 1688–1694.

[MH98] Morikawa, H., A. Higaki, M. Nohno, M. Takahashi, M. Kamada, M. Nakata, G. Toyohara, Y. Okamura, K. Matsui, S. Kitani, K. Fujita, K. Irifune & N. Goshima. 1998. More than a 600-fold variation in nitrogen dioxide assimilation among 217 plant taxa. Plant, Cell and Environment 21: 180–190.

[O88] Ohba, H. 1988. The alpine flora of the Nepal Himalayas: an introductory note. In: Ohba, H., & S. B. Malla (eds) The Himalayan Plants vol. 1. The University Museum, University of Tokyo, Bulletin 31: 19–46.

[OP01] Olmstead, R. G., C. W. dePamphilis, A. D. Wolfe, N. D. Young, W. J. Elisons & P. A. Reeves. 2001. Disintegration of the Scrophulariaceae. American Journal of Botany 88 (2): 348–361.

[PT98] Panitsa, M., & D. Tzanoudakis. 1998. Contribution to the study of the Greek flora: flora and vegetation of the E Aegean islands Agathonisi and Pharmakonisi. Willdenowia 28: 95–116.

[RJ11] Rising, J. D., A. Jaramillo, J. L. Copete, P. G. Ryan & S. C. Madge. 2011. Family Emberizidae (buntings and New World sparrows). In: Hoyo, J. del, A. Elliott & D. A. Christie (eds) Handbook of the Birds of the World vol. 16. Tanagers to New World Blackbirds pp. 428–683. Lynx Edicions: Barcelona.

[SS72] Singh, V., & H. Singh. 1972. A contribution to the flora of Gangolihat block in Pithoragarh District. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 69 (2): 352–368.

[Y98] Yannitsaros, A. 1998. Additions to the flora of Kithira (Greece) I. Willdenowia 28: 77–94.