Plantago media, L.

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1976, Flora Europaea. Volume 4. Plantaginaceae to Compositae (and Rubiaceae), Cambridge University Press : 41

12. P. media L. , Sp. Pl. 113 (1753) .

Perennial with one or few rosettes. Leaves (2-)5-15(-30)x (l-5-)2-5-8 cm, not blackening on drying; lamina elliptical to ovate-elliptical, entire or remotely crenate or dentate, (5- to)7- to 9-veined, more or less densely crispate-hairy, gradually narrowed into a petiole usually less than half as long as lamina. Scapes greatly exceeding leaves, striate, with subappressed or ascending hairs; spikes (1—)2—6(—10) cm, up to 15 cm in fruit, dense. Bracts 2-3 mm, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, glabrous or shortly hairy. Sepals c. 2 mm, subequal, almost free, glabrous, green or purplish with scarious margins. Corolla-tube c. 2 mm, glabrous; lobes 1 -5-2 mm, ovate-lanceolate, subacute. Stamens exserted 8-13 mm; filaments lilac; anthers lilac or white. Capsule 3-4 mm; seeds 2-4(-6), c. 2 mm, oblong-elliptical, plano-convex. 2л = 12, 24. Dry grassland. Europe, except most of the islands, but doubtfully native in parts of the north. Al Au Be Br Bu Cz Da Fe Ga Ge Gr He Ho Hs Hu It Ju No Po Rm Rs (*N, B, C, W, K, E) Su?Tu [Hb].

Dwarf plants, often with subvillous, narrow leaves, from serpentine areas above 1500 m in the Balkan peninsula have been described as var. pindica Hausskn. ( subsp. pindica (Hausskn.) Rech. fil. ), while similar plants from S. Spain (Sierra Nevada) have been called var. nevadensis Willk. , and narrow-leaved plants from C. & E. Europe have been called var. urvilleana Rapin (P. stepposa Kuprian.); all are probably best considered as ecotypes.