Plantago raoulii Decne.
P. dasyphylla Col. in T.N.Z.I. 24, 1892, 393.
Type locality: Banks Peninsula. Type: P.
Primary root short-lived, adventitious roots ∞. Stem stout, simple, with fine brown hairs. Rosette us. flat, up to 16 cm. across; lvs submembr., 5-10 × 1-2 cm.; lamina about elliptic, gradually narrowed into broad flat petiole; tip obtuse, margin us. only obscurely toothed; upper surface pilose with short erect hairs, hairs on lower surface more widely spaced or very few; larger lvs showing 3 veins. Scape 5-15 cm. long, terete, covered with short appressed hairs. Spike up to 3 cm. long, us. dense, many-fld and much longer than wide but occ. reduced to 2-3 fls. Bracts c. 2.5 mm. long, ovate, subacute, keel wide and ill-defined, glab. except for occ. very minute cilia on margins; sepals c. 2.5 mm. long, broad-oblong, obtuse, pale and membr. except for narrow dark keel, glab. Corolla-tube short, lobes small and narrow (1 × 0·5 mm.); anthers < 1 mm. long; ovules 5; capsule twice as long as calyx, narrow above; if all ovules develop two long seeds occupy one loculus, two shorter ones are attached near base of the other loculus, and an obliquely placed one occupies narrow tip of capsule, largest up to 1·75 mm. long, dark red-brown.
DIST.: N., S., St. From North Cape southwards in shaded, us. damp spots from sea cliffs to inland valleys.
FL. 11-4. FT. 12-4.
A Colenso specimen of P. dasyphylla from Dannevirke in W cannot be distinguished from small states of P. raoulii.
A few plants from Stewart Id and Fortrose, Southland showing ovary and corolla characters of P. raoulii have hairs on keels of bracts and lvs more nearly spathulate than is usual in this sp. Plants from different localities maintain some differences even when grown together and several subspecific taxa may come to be recognized.
