There is no stem, the leaves all springing from the stout rootstock. The flowers are borne on tall spikes which spring from the axils of the leaves. Each blossom consists of four persistent sepals, a salver-shaped corolla with four lobes, between which are fixed the four stamens surrounding the long, simple and hairy style. There are five British species, of which we figure two. The name Plantago is the classic Latin one, from which the English has been evolved.
I. The Greater Plantain (P. major) has very broad leaves and broad, short leaf- stalks. Stamens short, anthers purple. Seeds black and rough. Pastures and roadsides, May to September.
II. Hoary Plantain (P. media): leaves not so broad, flower-scape shorter. Stamens long, anthers whitish. Seeds brown, rough. Pastures and waste places in a dry soil, June to October. Plant more or less covered with short hairs. III. Ribwort Plantain (P. lanceolata): as the scientific name implies, the leaves are lance-shaped, long and narrow. The flower-scape is deeply furrowed, the flower-spike short. Stamens long, white. Seeds black, shining. Pastures and heaths, May to October.
IV. Seaside Plantain (P. maritima). Rootstock branched, crown woolly. Leaves narrower than the last, margins more parallel, ribs weak. Stamens pale yellow. Seeds brown, slightly winged at end. Pastures, salt-marshes and rocks by the sea, June to September.
V. Buck's-horn Plantain (P. coronopus). Leaves narrow, linear, divided, or deeply-toothed, suggesting the popular name; ribbed, hairy. Stamens pale yellow. Seeds pale brown. Poor gravelly soils, chiefly near coast. June to August.
Meadow Sage (Salvia pratensis).
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In speaking of the Bugle on page 22 we promised to say more of Labiate flowers further on. Salvia is a labiate, and of similar construction to Ajuga. S. pratensis is a rare plant, found only in Cornwall, Kent, and Oxford, from June to August. The soft wrinkled leaves have the edges cut into convex teeth (crenate). The flowers are large and bright blue; they are borne in whorls, usually of four or five flowers, on a tall spike. There is a more frequent species, the Wild Sage or Clary (S. verbenaca)) found in dry pastures all over the kingdom south of Ross-shire from June to September. It is similar in habit to S.
