Plantago major (Common Plantain) - Non-Native

11/28/10 Drainage along Waterline Road, Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve,

SW Riverside County, CA

LIFE LIST NOTES:

COMMON NAME: Common Plantain

SPECIES: Plantago major

FAMILY: Plantaginaceae (Plantain Family)

LIFE LIST DATE: 11/28/2010

LOCATION: Drainage along Waterline Road, Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve, Murrieta, SW Riverside County, CA

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Treatment from The Jepson Manual (1993):

Perennial (rarely annual), generally glabrous except peduncle; caudex short, with fibrous roots

Leaf blade 5–18 cm, widely elliptic to somewhat cordate, narrowed ± abruptly to petiole; margin entire or ± finely dentate, rough to touch

Inflorescences generally 3–7, 5–60 cm including peduncle; spike generally 3–20 cm, linear-cylindric, becoming ± loose; bract ± = sepals, ovate, not exerted

Flower: corolla lobes 0.5 mm, spreading, ovate-lanceolate; stamens 4

Seeds 5–16, < 1 mm

Ecology: Disturbed areas

Elevation: < 2200 m.  

Bioregional distribution: California Floristic Province (except Sierra Nevada), Great Basin Floristic Province, Desert Mountains (uncommon) 

Distribution outside California: to e US; native to Europe

Flowering time: Apr–Sep

Highly variable; named vars. (including  pilgeri Domin &  scopulorum Fr. & S.P. Broberg) indistinct.