Plantago virginica L.

Virginia Plantain; Southern Plantain; Pale Seed Plantain

Herb

Annual

Vascular

Virginia Plantain is a native annual in the Plantain family (Plantaginaceae). It can be found throughout Alabama. Virginia Plantain occurs in prairies, on rock outcrops, in lawns, along trails, on roadsides, and in other disturbed areas. It is an annual from a taproot. The leaves from a basal rosette. Leaves are petiolate, lanceolate to elliptic in outline, pubescent, with entire to toothed margins. The petioles are purplish in color, at least at the base. Flowers are produced in spikes on scapes that exceed the length of the leaves. The scapes are pubescent and round in cross section. The scapes may be loosely or densely flowered. Individual flowers are greenish-yellow with 4 sepals with hyaline margins. The corolla is papery in texture, tan in color, with 4 erect lobes that greatly exceed the sepals and for a “beak”. Each flower is subtended by a bract shorter than to as long as the sepals. The fruit is a capsule with 2 yellowish seed. The capsule is dehiscent near the middle.—A. Diamond.

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Native FACU- (NWPL)

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