''Plantago aristata'' is a species of plantain known by the common name bracted plantain or largebracted plantain. It is native to the eastern and central United States, and it can be found in other parts of North America as well as parts of Eurasia as an

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...

. It grows in many types of habitat, including disturbed areas, where it is a minor

weed A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, growing where it conflicts with human preferences, needs, or goals.Harlan, J. R., & deWet, J. M. (1965). Some thoughts about weeds. ''Economic botany'', ''19''(1), 16-24. Pla ...

Description

It is an annual herb usually lacking a stem, producing a circular rosette of many narrow linear leaves each up to long. The stemlike

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

s grow erect to a maximum height around tall. Atop the peduncle of the inflorescence is a dense spike of many small flowers each with four whitish lobes a few millimeters long. Between the flowers are long, narrow

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also lo ...

s which may be long, the defining characteristic of the species. The bracts have fluffy hairs around their bases near the flowers.

References

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto gallery
aristata Flora of Northern America {{Plantaginaceae-stub