Plantago wrightiana Dcne., wright plantain. Annual, taprooted, rosetted, 1–stemmed at base with 1—several axillary, scopose inflorescences, < 22—35 cm tall; shoot of only basal leaves, foliage pilose and long–pilose.
Stems hidden by sheaths of basal, to 4 mm diameter, to 30 mm long, with short internodes.
Leaves helically alternate, simple, petiolate and sheathing older leaves, without stipules; petiole at least half–sheathing with wide membranous margins, tapered to blade, < 5—15 mm long, whitish, margins at base to 2.2 mm wide, long–ciliate on margins, upper surface at base with some hairs to 5 mm long, parallel–veined with veins light green; blade ascending to suberect, somewhat dimorphic, early spring leaves acute–oblanceolate, to 25 mm long, later leaves folded upward from midrib, linear, 30—145 × 1.5—7 mm broadest above midpoint, entire and ciliate on margins, blunt acute and somewhat prow–shaped at tip, parallel–veined usually with 3 or 5 principal veins slightly raised on lower surface, upper surface glabrous, lower surface with scattered pilose hairs.
Inflorescence spike, terminal, many–flowered, cylindric, 7—8 mm diameter, flowers in whorls of 3 (opposite decussate on small individuals), bracteate, appressed long–hairy; peduncle ± erect, axillary to a late–season basal leaf, cylindric, to 300 × 1.5 mm, at anthesis > foliage increasing to 2× leaves, tough, mostly hollow but solid and compressed (shallow furrows and wide faces) approaching spike; rachis usually 3–ridged and 3–sided with ridge descending from each flower, densely long–hairy; bractlet cupped and appressed to flower, ascending, triangular to midpoint and linear above, at anthesis to 3.5 mm long, wide–membranous to midpoint (appressed to calyx), green and nearly linear and rounded at tip, long–ciliate on margins, upper (inner) surface glabrous, lower (outer) surface pilose.
Flower bisexual, bilateral, 6—7 mm across, protogynous and pollinated before flower opens; sepals 4, appressed to ovary, membranous aging scarious, dimorphic, outer 2 obovate and symmetric or asymmetric, ca. 4 × 1.5 mm, with overlapping margins, scarious margins ± 0.4 mm wide, pilose on outer surface and margin, inner 2 boat–shaped and broadly elliptic, 4 ×2.5 mm (flattened), membranous with green keel, margins ca. 1 mm wide, long–hairy along keel; corolla 4–lobed, membranous aging scarious; tube stretched by ovary and bell–shaped at anthesis, 2 mm long, initially pale green with orange–red and somewhat warty approaching limb, ± 4–ridged; lobes appressed backward, ± arrow–shaped to inversely heart–shaped and cupped, 3—3.2 × 2.5—2.6 mm, lacking obvious veins, 1–lobed at base (auriculate), acute to obtuse at tip, upper and lower lobes vertically flattened on spike, deltate in outline, lateral lobes angled downward; stamens 4, alternate with corolla lobes, fused to corolla tube 1 mm from base; filaments < 1 mm long, colorless, with a few short hairs near base; anthers below sinuses of corolla, dorsifixed, dithecal, arrow–shaped and flattened, 0.6 mm long with triangular appendage, sacs pale green aging reddish, longitudinally dehiscent, anthers forced upward to corolla orifice; pollen essentially colorless; pistil 1; ovary superior, ovoid but 4–sided, 0.8—1 × 0.7—0.9 mm, whitish with darker patches to light green, angles round, truncate at top, 2–chambered, each chamber with 1 ovule attached at center; style included at pollination, greenish, compressed side–to–side below midpoint; stigmas with conspicuous, colorless papillae.
Fruit capsule, dehiscent around fruit slightly below midpoint (circumscissile), 2–seeded, ovoid, 4—5 × 2—2.5, pale brown; lower portion of fruit persistent.
Seed hemi–ellipsoid to hemi–narrowly ovoid, ca. 3 × 1.5 × 1 mm, dull brown, finely textured on convex face often having a slight indentation where developing seed touched the circumscissile border of capsule (below misseed), flat inner face with deep, uniform concavity bordered by a wide rim, mucilaginous when wet.
A. C. Gibson