Plantaginaceae
Plantago

Plantago ovata Forssk.

First published in Fl. Aegypt.-Arab.: 31 (1775)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is SE. Spain, N. Africa to India and Somalia, SW. & S. Central U.S.A. to N. Mexico. It is an annual or perennial and grows primarily in the desert or dry shrubland biome.

Descriptions

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Ghazanfar, S. A. & Edmondson, J. R (Eds). (2014) Flora of Iraq, Volume 5 Part 2: Lythraceae to Campanulaceae.

Morphology General Habit
Annual, acaulous or short-stemmed, 3–10(–16) cm tall, branched at base, white villouslanate
Morphology Leaves
Leaves linear to narrowly lanceolate, 3–5 × 0.1–0.6 cm, 3-veined, base attenuate tapering into the petiole, margins entire or remotely denticulate, apex acute, densely to sparsely white villous
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Peduncles
Peduncle as long as leaves or longer, rarely shorter than leaves, arcuate-ascending or decumbent, rarely erect, 1–9(–12) cm, villous
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Spike globose to ovoid to narrowly ovoid, 0.5–2.5(–3) cm, densely flowered; bracts glabrous, broadly ovate, 2–3 × 3–4 mm, obtuse, scarious except for the herbaceous midrib, lateral lamina much wider than midrib
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
Calyx 2.5–3 mm, glabrous, scarious except midrib; anterior sepals obovate-elliptic, posterior sepals elliptic- Corolla white, lobes broadly ovate or orbicular-cordate, 2–3 × 2 mm, acute, glabrous
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Capsule 2-seeded
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds ovoid.
Ecology
In desert and wadi beds, on sandy gypsophilous and calcareous soils; on plateau in sandy patches, limestone and conglomerate hillsides and hard silty plains; alt. 10–150 m
Phenology
Flowering and fruiting: Feb.– Jun.
Distribution
Common in the Desert Plateau Region and lower Mesopotamian Region; frequent in Upper  Plains and Foothills Region. Mediterranean region, southwest Asia to Pakistan, N America, Atlantic Islands.
Note
Chalabi recognized P. trichophylla Nabělek & subsp. decumbens Chalabi as separate taxa in the original manuscript, but said that many specimens of both taxa examined in Iraq integrated with P. ovata and were difficult to tell apart. Blakelock (op. cit., 444) considered P. trichophylla a depauperate form of P. ovata. I have placed both (P. trichophylla and P. decumbens) under P. ovata.
Vernacular
riblah (recorded by Blakelock, loc.cit.).
[FIQ]

Vernacular
Ispagula
[UPFC]

Plantaginaceae, B. Verdcourt. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1971

Morphology General Habit
Has been cultivated at Kabete, Kenya (Oct. 1934, Hudson in A.D. 2936 !).
Diagnostic
It will key to near P. lanceolata in the key below but is not closely related, differing in having 4 free sepals and woolly hairs on the leaves, which are linear or lanceolate.
[FTEA]

Uses

Use
The seeds are used medicinally, and the plant is recorded as spring fodder in the Iraq-Nejd border areas.
[FIQ]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Flora of Iraq

    • Flora of Somalia
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of Tropical East Africa

    • Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images

  • Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia

    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • World Checklist of Vascular plants (WCVP)

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0