Plantago virginica Linnaeus. Common name: Virginia Plantain, Hoary Plantain. Phenology: Mar-Jul. Habitat: Saline marshes, thin soils over rock, roadsides, lawns, disturbed areas. Distribution: MA and NY west to SD, south to s. FL and TX.
Origin/Endemic status: Native
Synonymy ⓘ: = Ar, Bah, C, Fl6, FNA17, G, GrPl, Il, K4, Mi, Mo3, NcTx, NE, NY, Pa, RAB, S, Tat, Tn, Tx, Va, W, WH3, WV, Rosatti (1984); > Plantago virginica L. var. virginica — F; > Plantago virginica L. var. viridescens Fernald — F. Basionym: Plantago virginica L. 1753
Links to other floras: = Plantago virginica - FNA17
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Wetland Indicator Status:
- Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: FACU
- Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: UPL
- Great Plains: FACU
- Midwest: FACU
- Northcentral & Northeast: FACU
Heliophily ⓘ: 7
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Horticultural Information
Intro: Erect annual/biennial from a basal rosette, found in fields, pastures, roadsides, clearings, disturbed rock outcrops and other open, disturbed areas.
Stems: Stems 1--several woolly-hairy, leafless flowering scapes, often red-tinged at the base.
Leaves: Leaves basal, on winged and often purplish petioles, oblong-lance-shaped to oval with blunt tip, to 6 in. long, with 3-5 parallel veins and woolly (longer hairs on veins).
Inforescence:
Flowers: Flowers densely crowded in a narrowly cylindric spike on the upper 2/3 of each scape; greenish-white, tiny; consisting of a narrow, papery corolla with 4 erect lobes and a calyx with 4 sepals. The corolla becomes tan-brown at maturity, while the sepals remain green and hairy.
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Comments:
Height: 4-8 in.
plant sale text:
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description: Erect annual/biennial from a basal rosette, found in fields, pastures, roadsides, clearings, disturbed rock outcrops and other open, disturbed areas.
stems: Stems 1--several woolly-hairy, leafless flowering scapes, often red-tinged at the base.
leaves: Leaves basal, on winged and often purplish petioles, oblong-lance-shaped to oval with blunt tip, to 6 in. long, with 3-5 parallel veins and woolly (longer hairs on veins).
inflorescence:
flowers: Flowers densely crowded in a narrowly cylindric spike on the upper 2/3 of each scape; greenish-white, tiny; consisting of a narrow, papery corolla with 4 erect lobes and a calyx with 4 sepals. The corolla becomes tan-brown at maturity, while the sepals remain green and hairy.
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