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.
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Image source: fig. 615C in Jessop J.P. & Toelken H.R. (Ed.) 1986. Flora of South Australia (4th edn).
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Distribution:
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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.
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Conservation status:
native
Flowering time: Aug. — Nov.
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SA Distribution Map based
on current data relating to
specimens held in the
State Herbarium of South Australia
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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
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