English Plantain, Plantago lanceolata
Plantaginaceae or Plantain Family
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Low, sprawling plant with long flowerstalks, about 2 ft long. Leaves narrow, lance-shaped, with 3-5 thick veins, all basal. Flowers in a short, crowded brown spike on top of the long stalks. Flowers tiny, practically invisible except for the protruding white stamens. Blooms in summer.
A troublesome weed of waste places, lawns and gardens. In Wildwood, common in the open meadow in the south extension, and occasional along the bikeway and Wildwood Drive and near the Main street entrance.. Familiar and easily identified weed. The short brown spikes on long stalks are distinctive. The exotic, weedy broad-leaved plantain (P. major), the native, but still weedy black-seeded plantain (P. rugelii), and the native non-weedy dwarf plantain (P. virginica) all have wider leaves and long, green inflorescences at the end of relatively shorter stalks. |
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