Plantago major

Native to Eurasia. Naturalized worldwide.

Disturbed sites, gardens, lawns.

June to August

Green to white

3″ to 12″

This is a 3″ to 12″ tall, erect, perennial forb that rises on a rosette of leaves and 1 or more flowering stalks (scapes) from fibrous roots.

The leaves are all basal and form a rosette. They are broadly elliptic to broadly egg-shaped, 1½″ to 7″ long, and ⅝″ to 4⅓″ wide, 1.3 to usually 2 times as long as wide. They have 3 or more prominent veins that separate at the base and are parallel to the margins. They are abruptly contracted at the base to the leaf stalk. The leaf stalk is hairless and green, even at the base. The margins are untoothed or irregularly toothed.

The scapes are leafless and 2″ to 10″ tall.

The inflorescence is an unbranched, cylindrical spike of tiny green flowers at the end of the scape. The spikes narrow, tapering, hairless, 2″ to 11¾″ tall, and less than ⅜″ wide.

The flowers are 1 ⁄16″ to ⅛″ long. There are 4 green to white petals, 4 sepals, and 4 stamens. They are subtended by 1 ⁄16″ to ⅛″ long, keeled, broadly egg-shaped, leaf-like bracts. Pollination is by wind.

The fruit is a capsule containing 6 to 30 seeds.

Black-seeded plantain (Plantago rugelii var. rugelii) has leaf stalks that are reddish at the base. The bracts are lance-shaped to triangular.