Plant Name
Scientific Name: Plantago patagonica
Synonyms: Plantago picta, P. purshii, P. spinulosa, P. wyomingensis
Common Names: Woolly Plantain, Woolly Indianwheat
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Annual
Growth Habit: Herb/Forb
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert, Upland
Flower Color: Whitish tan to dull whitish flowers, Silvery green inflorescences
Flowering Season: Winter (late), Spring, Summer
Height: To 8 inches (20 cm) tall
Description: The flowers are in long, slender, fuzzy, silvery green, terminal flower spikes. The individual flowers are tiny and have 4 ovate, whitish to partly translucent lobes and 4 stamens. The leaves are green, basal, narrowly linear to linear-lanceolate in shape, and densely to lightly covered in shaggy hair. The plants are completely covered in white, woolly hairs.
The similar Desert Indianwheat (Plantago ovata) has shorter, fatter, tanner, terminal flower spikes with larger flowers.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Asteridae
Order: Plantaginales
Family: Plantaginaceae – Plantain family
Genus: Plantago L. – plantain
Species: Plantago patagonica Jacq. – woolly plantain
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