Plantains - Broad-leaved/Narrow-leaved
There are 2 types of plantains found in Ontario: broad-leaved and narrow-leaved.
Scientific Names: Broad-leaved plantain, Plantago major L., Narrow-leaved plantain, Plantago lanceolata L.,
Other Names
Broad-leaved Plantain |
Narrow-leaved Plantain |
- Plantain majeur
- Common plantain
- Doorweed
- Dooryard plantain
- Plantain
- Whiteman’s-foot
- Grand plantain
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- Plantain lancéolé
- Buckhorn plantain
- English plantain
- Ribgrass
- Plantain à feuilles lancéolées
- Herbe à cinq coutures
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Family: Plantain Family (Plantaginaceae)
General Description: Perennial, reproducing only by seed.
Habitat: Plantains are very common in Ontario occurring in cultivated land, pastures, meadows, waste places, roadsides, lawns and gardens.
Seedlings
Roots
- Root system thick and fibrous
Leaves
Broad-leaved Plantain |
Narrow-leaved Plantain |
- Leaves all in a basal rosette
- Oval or elliptic
- 5- 30 cm (2- 12 in.) long
- The blade about as long as its thick green stalk
- Smooth or somewhat rough-hairy
- 3 to several prominent veins radiating from the leafstalk towards the tip
- Margins smooth or irregularly toothed
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- Leaves all in a basal rosette
- Long and narrow
- Very prominent, almost parallel veins or ribs which run the length of the leaf
- Sometimes the blade being strongly folded lengthwise along each rib
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Flowers
Broad-leaved Plantain |
Narrow-leaved Plantain |
- In compact spikes on erect, leafless stalks from among the basal leaves
- Each spike about the size and shape of a lead pencil but consisting of many, tiny, stalkless, greenish flowers giving it a coarsely granular texture
- Each flower 2- 3 mm (1/12- 1/8 in.) across
- 4 petals
- 4 sepals
- 2 stamens
- 1 pistil
- Egg-shaped seedpod developing beneath the withering flower
- Mature seedpod splitting apart with a circular facture around its middle and release 5- 16 dark brown or nearly black angular seeds, each about 1 mm (1/25 in.) long
- Flowers and sets seed from spring until late autumn
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- Very short, compact, somewhat oval spike of tiny flowers at the ends of long, thin, leafless stems
- At flowering, the spike surrounded by a halo of anthers at the ends of long thin stamens protruding from the flowers
- Seedpod contains only 1 or 2 seeds, each about 3 mm (1/8 in.) long
- Flowers from spring until late autumn
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Often Confused With
Blackseed Plantain (Blackseed plantain often is red in colour at the base of the petiole)