Plantago major L.
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Authority
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
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Family
Plantaginaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Fibrous-rooted perennial from a short, stout, erect caudex, glabrous or rather inconspicuously hairy, especially below; lvs with broadly elliptic to broadly ovate or cordate- ovate blade ± abruptly contracted to the well defined petiole, the blade entire or irregularly toothed, mostly 4–18 × 1.5–11 cm, 1.3–2(–3) times as long as wide, strongly 3–several-nerved, the nerves diverging at the base of the blade, ± parallel to the margin; petiole only seldom anthocyanic at base; scapes 5–25 cm; spikes dense but narrow, less than 1 cm thick, commonly 5–30 cm long, essentially glabrous; bracts broad, ovate- obtuse, mostly 2–4 mm, with a prominent, acute keel and thin margins; sep ovate, obtuse, the rounded keel about as wide as the scarious margins; cor-lobes ca 1 mm or less, reflexed after anthesis; stamens 4, exsert; fr rhombic-ovoid, 2.5–4 mm, circumscissile near or a little below the middle; seeds 6–30, 1 mm, strongly reticulate; 2n=12, 24. Native of Eurasia and probably also parts of N. Amer., naturalized throughout the U.S. and s. Can. in lawns, roadsides, and waste places. (P. asiatica)
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Common Names
common plantain