Plantago coronopus L.
buck's horn plantain
Hairy annual or perennial with persistent taproot. Lvs all radical, rosulate; petiole ill-defined, with silky tuft of hairs at base. Lamina (10)-30-120-(200) × 1-5-(10) mm, linear, 1-(2)-pinnatisect, rarely entire, with 1-4 pairs of linear, acute to subulate lobes or teeth, hairy, particularly on the margins, sometimes only sparsely ciliate; main vein usually 1. Scapes 3-45 cm long, not ribbed, usually densely clothed in antrorse hairs. Spikes 0.5- c. 8 cm long, usually cylindric, shortly oblong in very small plants. Bracts almost = calyx, ovate-acuminate; keels prominent, hairy, herbaceous; margins hyaline in lower part. Sepals unequal, c. 2 mm long, broad-ovate, with green, herbaceous, hairy or glabrous keel and exposed margins ciliate, remainder of sepal hyaline. Corolla tube = or > sepals, hairy in lower 1/2; lobes 1-1.2 mm long, ovate, spreading. Stamens glabrous, exserted. Style hairy, long, > corolla. Capsule mostly 1.5-2 mm long, broad-ellipsoid or subglobose, usually 4-seeded. Seeds 0.8-1 mm long, ovoid-ellipsoid, pinkish brown, convex on both sides; margin hyaline.
N.; S.; Ch.: extensively naturalised in coastal areas.
Europe, W. Asia 1873
Abundant on sand and mud flats in and around estuaries and lagoons, common around lowland lakes inland, and in waste places in and around the main cities, also along railway tracks, roadsides and in many other open modified habitats, as far inland as C. Otago.
FL Jul-Apr.
P. coronopus is an extremely variable sp. in N.Z. as well as in its region of origin. Several infraspecific taxa have been recognised; most N.Z. material falls into subsp. coronopus, but some specimens with short stout spikes and shorter bracts resemble descriptions of subsp. commutata (Guss.) Pilger from the Mediterranean area. However, it is not practicable to separate the N.Z. populations at infraspecific level. An unusual feature of this sp. as compared to other Plantago spp. in N.Z. is the ovary which becomes 4-chambered by placental outgrowths.
