PLANTAGO AFRA

Family and Genus:- See- PLANTAGINACEAE/Subgen. PSYLLIUM

Common Names:- Branched or Glandular plantain

Homotypic Synonyms:- Plantago psyllium

Meaning:- Plantago (L) Foot-sole-like, (reference to the way the leaves lie flat on

the ground).

Afra (L) Of Africa.

General description:- Erect annual, 5-30 cm tall, single-stemmed or sparingly

branched.

Stems:-

1) Up to 50(-80) cm, terete, erect, often tinged purple, usually with ascending,

straight branches, eglandular-puberulent below, with rather dense, short

glandular pubescence above.

Leaves:-

1) Opposite, 10-40 mm, linear-lanceolate, entire or remotely serrate, slightly

glandular- and eglandular-pubescent.

Flowers:-

1) In dense, ovoid, pedunculate spikes in the upper leaf axils.

2) Bracts, uniform, 3.5-6 mm, with an ovate base and a shortly acuminate apex,

with scarious margins below, without lateral veins, glandular-pubescent.

3) Sepals, resembling the bracts.

4) Corolla tube, c. 3.5 mm, glabrous, rugose:

a) lobes, 2-2.5 mm, narrowly ovate, spreading to deflexed, cream.

5) Anthers, pale yellow.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, c. 2 mm;

2) Seeds, c. 2·5 mm, cymbiform, narrowly oblong in outline.

Key features:-

1) Bracts, all similar in shape, without lateral veins.

2) Plant, usually strongly glandular-pubescent above, and single-stemmed.

3) Spikes, ovoid

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Seasonally damp sandy coastal habitats, dry open shrubby vegetation,

olive groves, orchards. 0-900(-1200) m.

Distribution:- Throughout Greece, but rare in the interior north. - Mediterranean

region and SW Asia to Pakistan. Widespread and common on Crete.

Flowering time:- Mid-Mar to June.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton