Belongs within: Plantaginaceae.
Plantago, plantains, is a cosmopolitan genus of wind-pollinated herbs. Several species have become widespread outside their native ranges as pasture weeds, including the common plantain P. major. Most species have basal leaves but leaves are cauline in the branched plantain P. indica (Hickman 1993).
Characters (Hickman 1993): Annual or perennial. Stem decumbent to erect. Leaves simple with longitudinal ribs; stipules absent. Inflorescence a spike; flowers each subtended by a bract. Flowers generally bisexual; calyx deeply four-lobed; corolla radial, sometimes bilateral, lobes 4, scarious, persistent; stamens colorless, alternate corolla lobes, epipetalous; ovary superior, ovules several per chamber, style 1, stigma long, hairy. Fruit a capsule, circumscissile more or less at or below middle. Seeds 2–many, gelatinous when wet.
<==Plantago Linnaeus 1753A61
|--P. afraPT98
|--P. albicansY98
|--P. amplexicaulisD17
|--P. aristataH93
|--P. asiaticaMH98
|--P. attenuataJ23
|--P. aucklandica Hooker 1844A61
|--P. barbataA61
|--P. bellardiiBR65
|--P. ciliataD17
|--P. coronopusBR65
|--P. creticaPT98
|--P. debilisGK00
|--P. drummondiiK90
|--P. elongata [incl. P. bigelovii, P. elongata ssp. pentasperma]H93
|--P. erecta [incl. P. bigelovii ssp. californica, P. hookeriana var. californica, P. erecta ssp. rigidior]H93
|--P. eriophoraJ23
|--P. eriopodaH93
|--P. erosaO88
|--P. exilisGK00
|--P. heterophyllaM68
|--P. hirtellaC06
|--P. hispidulaG04
|--P. indicaH93
|--P. lagopusPT98
|--P. lanceolataOP01
|--P. lanigera Hooker 1864 [incl. P. lanigera var. petriei Cheeseman 1906]A61
|--P. major [incl. P. major var. pilgeri, P. major var. scopulorum]H93
|--P. maritima [incl. P. maritima var. californica non P. bigelovii ssp. californica, P. maritima var. juncoides]H93
|--P. mediaC06
|--P. montanaC55
|--P. muelleriA61
|--P. novae-zelandiae Moore in Allan 1961A61
|--P. ovata [incl. P. insularis var. fastigiata, P. insularis]H93
|--P. patagonicaH93 [incl. P. purshii var. oblongaH93, P. purshii var. picta non P. picta Colenso 1890M68]
|--P. picta Colenso 1890 [incl. P. viridis ms]A61
|--P. psylliumBR65
|--P. pusillaH93
|--P. (sect. Mesembrynia) raoullii Decne in DC. 1852 [incl. P. dasyphylla Colenso 1892]A61
|--P. rigidaRJ11
|--P. spathulata Hooker 1854A61
|--P. subnuda [incl. P. hirtella var. galeottiana]H93
|--P. subulataC74
|--P. tasmanicaA61
|--P. tibeticaSS72
|--P. (sect. Microcalyx) triandra Bergg. 1877 [incl. P. hamiltoni Kirk 1879, P. masonae Cheeseman 1921]A61
|--P. triantha Spreng. 1825 (see below for synonymy)A61
|--P. truncataH93
| |--P. t. ssp. truncataH93
| `--P. t. ssp. firmaH93
|--P. uniflora Hooker 1854 [=P. triantha var. uniflora (Hooker) Pilger 1937]A61
|--P. variaBR65
|--P. virginica [incl. P. rhodosperma]H93
`--P. weldeniiPT98
Plantago triantha Spreng. 1825 [incl. P. brownii Rapin 1827, P. carnosa Br. 1810 non Lam. 1791, P. subantarctica Cockayne 1928]A61
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
[A61] Allan, H. H. 1961. Flora of New Zealand vol. 1. Indigenous Tracheophyta: Psilopsida, Lycopsida, Filicopsida, Gymnospermae, Dicotyledones. R. E. Owen, Government Printer: Wellington (New Zealand).
[BR65] Black, J. M., & E. L. Robertson. 1965. Flora of South Australia. Part IV. Oleaceae–Compositae. W. L. Hawes, Government Printer: Adelaide.
[C55] Candolle, A. de. 1855. Géographie Botanique Raisonée: Ou exposition des faits principaux et des lois concernant la distribution géographique des plantes de l’époque actuelle vol. 1. Librairie de Victor Masson: Paris.
[C06] Cheeseman, T. F. 1906. Manual of the New Zealand Flora. John Mackay, Government Printer: Wellington.
[C74] Coineau, Y. 1974. Éléments pour une monographie morphologique, écologique et biologique des Caeculidae (Acariens). Mémoires du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, nouvelle série, Série A, Zoologie 81: 1–299, 24 pls.
[D17] Diels, L. 1917. Beiträge zur Flora der Zentral-Sahara und ihrer Pflanzengeographie. Nach der Sammelausbeute des Freiherrn Hans Geyr von Schweppenburg. Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie 54 (Beiblatt 120): 51–155.
[G04] Gibson, N. 2004. Flora and vegetation of the Eastern Goldfields Ranges: part 6. Mt Manning Range. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 87 (2): 35–47.
[GK00] Gibson, N., & G. J. Keighery. 2000. Flora and vegetation of the Byenup-Muir reserve system, south-west Western Australia. CALMScience 3 (3): 323–402.
[H93] Hickman, J. C. (ed.) 1993. The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California. University of California Press: Berkeley (California).
[J23] James, E. 1823. Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, performed in the years 1819 and ’20, by order of the Hon. J. C. Calhoun, sec’y of war: under the command of Major Stephen H. Long. From the notes of Major Long, Mr. T. Say, and other gentlemen of the exploring party vol. 1. H. C. Carey & I. Lea: Philadelphia.
[K90] Keighery, G. J. 1990. Vegetation and flora of Shark Bay, Western Australia. In: Berry, P. F., S. D. Bradshaw & B. R. Wilson (eds) Research in Shark Bay: Report of the France-Australe Bicentenary Expedition Committee pp. 61–87. Western Australian Museum.
[MH98] Morikawa, H., A. Higaki, M. Nohno, M. Takahashi, M. Kamada, M. Nakata, G. Toyohara, Y. Okamura, K. Matsui, S. Kitani, K. Fujita, K. Irifune & N. Goshima. 1998. More than a 600-fold variation in nitrogen dioxide assimilation among 217 plant taxa. Plant, Cell and Environment 21: 180–190.
[M68] Munz, P. A. 1968. Supplement to a California Flora. University of California Press.
[O88] Ohba, H. 1988. The alpine flora of the Nepal Himalayas: an introductory note. In: Ohba, H., & S. B. Malla (eds) The Himalayan Plants vol. 1. The University Museum, University of Tokyo, Bulletin 31: 19–46.
[OP01] Olmstead, R. G., C. W. dePamphilis, A. D. Wolfe, N. D. Young, W. J. Elisons & P. A. Reeves. 2001. Disintegration of the Scrophulariaceae. American Journal of Botany 88 (2): 348–361.
[PT98] Panitsa, M., & D. Tzanoudakis. 1998. Contribution to the study of the Greek flora: flora and vegetation of the E Aegean islands Agathonisi and Pharmakonisi. Willdenowia 28: 95–116.
[RJ11] Rising, J. D., A. Jaramillo, J. L. Copete, P. G. Ryan & S. C. Madge. 2011. Family Emberizidae (buntings and New World sparrows). In: Hoyo, J. del, A. Elliott & D. A. Christie (eds) Handbook of the Birds of the World vol. 16. Tanagers to New World Blackbirds pp. 428–683. Lynx Edicions: Barcelona.
[SS72] Singh, V., & H. Singh. 1972. A contribution to the flora of Gangolihat block in Pithoragarh District. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 69 (2): 352–368.
[Y98] Yannitsaros, A. 1998. Additions to the flora of Kithira (Greece) I. Willdenowia 28: 77–94.