About
Contact
Links
Electronic Flora of South Australia
Electronic Flora of South Australia
Census of SA Plants, Algae & Fungi
Identification tools
 

Electronic Flora of South Australia species Fact Sheet

Family: Plantaginaceae
Plantago hispida

Citation: R. Br., Prod. Pl. Nov. Holl. 425 (1810).

Synonymy: Plantago aff. debilis R.Br., Plantago varia

Common name: None

Description:
Perennial herbs with leaves in a basal rosette with a usually stout tap root, the leaf base with a tuft of whitish hairs; leaves rarely with an indistinct petiole up to 2.5 cm long continued into a long cuneate base, oblanceolate to linear-oblanceolate, 2.5-12 x 0.4-2 cm, usually obtuse, entire or with widely spaced teeth or lobes, usually with 3 main veins, densely hairy with short and long hairs on both surfaces.

Spikes 1-8 cm long, usually compact; peduncle 2.5-22 cm long, terete, densely hairy usually with spreading hairs, with lower flowers borne at or just above the leaf apices; bracts ovate, shorter than and often only half as long as the sepals; sepals oblong, 2.2-3 mm long, subequal, hairy along the narrow central ridge and ciliate on the broad membranous margin; corolla tube c. 2 mm long; lobes ovate and usually acuminate, 1-1.8 mm long; anthers broadly oblong, c. 1.5 mm long; ovary 2- or 3-celled, with 2 ovules in the 2 lower cells and I above.

Capsule ellipsoid, 2.8-3.5 mm long; seeds 1-5, compressed-ellipsoid, c. 1.5 mm long, granular.

image of FSA3_Plantago_his.jpg Habit.
Image source: fig. 615C in Jessop J.P. & Toelken H.R. (Ed.) 1986. Flora of South Australia (4th edn).

Distribution:  Often associated with limestone and usually in coastal regions.

S.Aust.: FR, EA, EP, NL, MU, YP, SL, KI, SE.   W.Aust.; Qld; N.S.W.; Vic.; Tas.

Conservation status: native

Flowering time: Aug. — Nov.


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

Biology: No text

Taxonomic notes: Dried specimens of P. hispida are usually recognised by their greyish or greenish colour which is also found in P. sp. B, a similar species. It is, however, distinguished by the anthers being c. 1.5 mm long and the capsule 2.8-3.5 mm long.

Author: Not yet available


Disclaimer Copyright Disclaimer Copyright Email Contact:
State Herbarium of South Australia
Government of South Australia Government of South Australia Government of South Australia Department for Environment and Water