⅙–½ in., from ovate or ovate-oblong to orbicular or reniform, 3-5-lobed or -crenate or quite entire. Flowers ¼–⅓ in. long, white, solitary in the axils of the upper leaves; peduncles usually longer than the calyx, often secund. Calyx short, minutely pubescent; lips obtuse, rounded; scale at first shorter than the upper lip, but becoming much larger in fruit. Corolla pubescent, about twice as long as the calyx; lower lip rather longer than the upper one; lobes obtuse. Anthers glabrous.—Handb. N.Z. Fl. 226. S. humilis, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 205 (not of B. Br.).
South Island: Nelson—Maitai Valley and other localities near Nelson, T.F.C.; Foxhill, Bidwill, Monro, T.F.C. Marlborough—Pelorus and Tinline Valleys, MacMahon!
Apparently a rare and local plant. It has been recorded from Banks Peninsula and Flagstaff Hill, near Dunedin, but I believe erroneously.
Order LX. PLANTAGINEÆ.
Perennial or annual usually stemless herbs. Leaves generally radical, tufted or spreading, simple, flat, nerved. Flowers regular, hermaphrodite or rarely unisexual, often dimorphic, generally in spikes terminating naked axillary scapes. Calyx inferior, persistent, deeply 4-partite, imbricate. Corolla gamopetalous, hypogynous, scarious; tube cylindric; limb with 4 spreading lobes with incurved margins. Stamens 4, rarely fewer, inserted on the tube of the corolla and alternate with its lobes; filaments usually long, capillary, exserted; anthers large, versatile. Ovary superior, 2–4-celled; style filiform, with two lines of stigmatic papillæ; ovules few or many affixed to the septum, or solitary and basal in each cell. Fruit a 1–4-celled capsule with transverse dehiscence. Seeds usually peltate; albumen fleshy; embryo cylindric, radicle inferior.
A small and very distinct order, widely spread over the globe, but most abundant in temperate regions. Genera 3; species variously estimated, from 60 to over 200. The properties of the order are unimportant, and the species are mostly of unattractive appearance.
PLANTAGO, Linn.
Annual or perennial herbs. Leaves all radical and rosulate, or rarely (in species not found in New Zealand) cauline and opposite or alternate. Scapes from the axils of the leaves, bearing at the top a few- or many-flowered spike of small greenish flowers. Flowers hermaphrodite, often dimorphic. Calyx-segments subequal. Corolla scarious, persistent, 4-lobed. Stamens 4, inserted on the tube of the corolla at or above the middle. Ovary 2-celled or spuriously 3–4-celled; ovules 1 to many in each cell. Capsule membranous, 2-celled or by abortion 1-celled, dehiscence circumscissile. Seeds laterally attached.
