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Electronic Flora of South Australia species Fact Sheet

Family: Plantaginaceae
Plantago lanceolata

Citation: L., Sp. Pl. 113 (1753).

Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: Ribgrass, ribwort.

Description:
Spike ovoid to cylindrical, 1-6 rarely 0.5-10 cm long, compact; peduncle 6-25 cm long, angular, densely covered with antrorse hairs, with flowers borne well above the leaves; bracts ovate to elliptic, membranous; sepals elliptic-oblong, 2.5-4 mm, unequal, with anterior ones more or less connate, hairy along the herbaceous ridge, membranous; corolla tube 1.5-3 mm long; lobes ovate, c. 1.5 mm long; anthers oblong, 1.5-2 mm long; ovary 2-celled with 1 ovule in each.

Capsule ovoid, 3-4 mm long; seeds 1 or 2, c. 3 mm long, narrowly coffee-bean-shaped, smooth.

image of FSA3_Plantago_lan.jpg Habit, section of grooved peduncle, fused front sepals.
Image source: fig. 614G in Jessop J.P. & Toelken H.R. (Ed.) 1986. Flora of South Australia (4th edn).

Conservation status: naturalised

Flowering time: No flowering time is available


SA Distribution Map based
on current data relating to
specimens held in the
State Herbarium of South Australia

Biology: P. lanceolata is very variable as are most of the other species, but a few specimens of a monstrosity with compound inflorescences of branched spikes are not easily recognised except for their grooved peduncles and almost completely fused anterior sepals.

Author: Not yet available


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