pale Indian plantain

(Arnoglossum atriplicifolium)

Conservation Status

 

No image available

 
  IUCN Red List

not listed

     
  NatureServe

NNR - Unranked

SNR - Unranked

     
  Minnesota

not listed

     
           
           
 
Description
 
 

Pale Indian plantain is a 3 to 9 tall, erect, perennial forb that rises on a single stem from somewhat fleshy roots.

In the spring it forms a rosette of a few basal leaves. The basal leaves are triangular egg-shaped, up to 8 long, and up to 6 wide. They are on slender leaf stalks that are up to 6 long, have a U-shaped groove on the upper side, and are sometimes purplish at the base. The blades are usually heart shaped, sometimes squared off, at the base. They are often shallowly palmately lobed, with usually broadly pointed lobes. They are palmately veined with 7 to 10 main veins. The upper surface is dark green and hairless. The lower surface is pale green, hairless, and conspicuously covered with a whitish, waxy bloom (glaucous). The margins are coarsely, irregularly toothed.

In the late spring a single flowering stem rises from the center of the rosette. The stem is erect, round in cross section, smooth or finely grooved, leafy, glaucous, and unbranched below the inflorescence.

Stem leaves are alternate. Lower stem leaves are on long leaf stalks and similar to basal leaves, becoming smaller and on shorter leaf stalks as they ascend the stem. Upper stem leaves are short-stalked, egg-shaped to triangular egg-shaped, sometimes narrowly egg-shaped, coarsely toothed, and tapered at the base.

The inflorescence is a branched, flat-topped, up to 8 wide cluster (corymb) of up to 100 or more flower heads at the end of the stem and rising from the upper leaf axils.

The whorl of bracts at the base of the flower head (involucre) is more or less cylindrical, 5 16 to long, and about in diameter. There is a single series of 5 or 6 linear, overlapping, greenish-white bracts. The bracts are rounded on the back, not keeled.

There are 5 white or cream-colored, rarely pinkish, disk florets and no ray florets.

The fruit is a to ¼ long, spindle-shaped or egg-shaped achene containing a single seed. It is dark brown and has 10 ribs.

 
     
 

Height

 
 

3 to 9

 
     
 

Flower Color

 
 

White to cream-colored

 
     
 

Similar Species

 
 

False Indian plantain (Arnoglossum plantagineum) basal leaves are triangular to arrow-shaped, with spreading, outward-pointing lobes at the base but otherwise unlobed.

Great Indian plantain (Arnoglossum reniforme) stem is angled in cross section and is not glaucous. Basal leaves are larger and kidney-shaped. The underside of the leaf is not glaucous or only slightly glaucous.

Tuberous Indian plantain (Arnoglossum plantagineum) stem is angled in cross section and is not glaucous. Basal leaves are larger, oval, and tapered at the base. The underside of the leaf is not glaucous. The flower head is strongly keeled.

 
     
 
Habitat
 
 

Wood edges, prairies, roadsides. Full to partial sun.

 
     
 
Ecology
 
 

Flowering

 
 

July to September

 
     
 

Pests and Diseases

 
 

 

 
     
 
Use
 
 

 

 
     
 
Distribution
 
 

Distribution Map

 

Sources

2, 7, 29, 30.

 
  5/24/2023      
         
 

Nativity

 
 

Native

 
         
 

Occurrence

 
 

Uncommon in Minnesota

 
         
 
Taxonomy
 
  Kingdom Plantae (green algae and land plants)  
  Subkingdom Viridiplantae (green plants)  
  Infrakingdom Streptophyta (land plants and green algae)  
  Superdivision Embryophyta (land plants)  
  Division Tracheophyta (vascular plants)  
  Subdivision Spermatophytina (seed plants)  
  Class Magnoliopsida (flowering plants)  
  Superorder Asteranae  
 

Order

Asterales (sunflowers, bellflowers, fanflowers, and allies)  
 

Family

Asteraceae (sunflowers, daisies, asters, and allies)  
  Subfamily Asteroideae  
  Supertribe Senecionodae  
  Tribe Senecioneae (groundsels and allies)  
  Subtribe Tussilagininae  
  Genus Arnoglossum (Indian plantains)  
       
 

Subordinate Taxa

 
 

 

 
       
 

Synonyms

 
 

Cacalia atriplicifolia

Cacalia paniculata

Cacalia rotundifolia

Mesadenia atriplicifolia

 
       
 

Common Names

 
 

pale Indian plaintain

pale Indian plantain

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Achene

A dry, one-chambered, single-seeded fruit, formed from a single carpel, with the seed attached to the membranous outer layer (wall) only by the seed stalk; the wall, formed entirely from the wall of the superior ovary, does not split open at maturity, but relies on decay or predation to release the contents.

 

Axil

The upper angle where a branch, stem, leaf stalk, or vein diverges.

 

Bract

Modified leaf at the base of a flower stalk, flower cluster, or inflorescence.

 

Corymb

A flat-topped or convex inflorescence in which the stalked flowers grow upward from various points on the main stem to approximately the same horizontal plane. The outer flowers open first.

 

Glaucous

Pale green or bluish gray due to a whitish, powdery or waxy film, as on a plum or a grape.

 

Involucre

A whorl of bracts beneath or surrounding a flower or flower cluster.

 

Linear

Long, straight, and narrow, with more or less parallel sides, like a blade of grass.

 

Palmate

Similar to a hand. Having more than three lobes or leaflets that radiate from a single point at the base of the leaf.

 
 
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Other Videos
 
  Pale Indian Plantain
The Prairie Orchard
 
   
 
About

Published on Jul 28, 2014

Plant of the Eastern Tall Grass Prairie, growing in our prairie and our permaculture orchard, July 27, 2014

   

 

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  Mike Denney
6/28/2023

Location: 5 miles north of Byron, MN

First one I've seen.  It's in my septic drain field.

 
           
 
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