Common Plantain

Plantago major

A common weed of lawns, empty lots and fields, Common Plantain has a basal rosette (up to 1 foot across) of large, ovate-pointed leaves, each up to 5 inches long, on substantial petioles that are U-shaped; leaves are smooth-edged (entire) and have prominent parellel veins especially visible on the underside. From the basal rosette rises one or a number of thin vertical spikes (1/8 inch wide, sometimes up to 1 foot or more long) the upper part of which has closely packed minute florets--white, but hardly visible (the green buds or purplish closed blooms are more prominent).

The low basal rosette allows this plant to survive mowing with little effect; it is also resistant to foot traffic.

Under 1 foot, sun - partial shade.

Summer-Autumn (June-October).

Common Plantain, 14 July 2020.