Plantago cordata

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Plantago cordata
Plantago cordata 1.jpg
Status TNC G4.svg
Apparently Secure  (NatureServe)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Plantaginaceae
Genus: Plantago
Species:
P. cordata
Binomial name
Plantago cordata

Plantago cordata is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family known by the common name heartleaf plantain. It is native to eastern North America, where it is distributed throughout eastern Canada and the eastern United States. Though it has a wide distribution, it is very localized, and populations have declined almost everywhere. [1]

Background

This type of perennial plant grows up to half a meter tall. The fleshy leaf blades are oval to heart-shaped and borne on long petioles. The plant produces smaller leaves during the winter, and larger ones during the summer. The inflorescence arises on a hollow stem and contains many flowers. Each flower has four petals and four sepals. The flowering stalks can grow up to 30 centimeters in one week. The fruit is a capsule about half a centimeter long. The capsule usually contains two seeds. The seeds are adapted for water dispersal, with buoyant fleshy parts and a sticky substance that causes them to adhere to objects. [1]

This semi-aquatic plant can be found growing in and around running water bodies such as streams and creeks. It is most often found on dolomite. [2] It can be found on the banks of the Hudson River in New York. It belongs to a number of plant communities and grows in several habitat types. [1]

This species "has the lowest reproductive output of all plantain species." [1]

This species has declined mainly because of urbanization. Its distribution has not narrowed, but so many populations have disappeared that the plant is "at considerable risk of extinction." [3]

Related Research Articles

<i>Plantago</i> Genus of flowering plants in the plantain family Plantaginaceae

Plantago is a genus of about 200 species of flowering plants in the family Plantaginaceae, commonly called plantains or fleaworts. The common name plantain is shared with the unrelated cooking plantain. Most are herbaceous plants, though a few are subshrubs growing to 60 centimetres tall.

<i>Alisma plantago-aquatica</i> Species of plant

Alisma plantago-aquatica, also known as European water-plantain, common water-plantain or mad-dog weed, is a perennial flowering aquatic plant widespread across most of Europe and Asia, and apparently spread elsewhere in both the Old and New World.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alismataceae</span> Family of flowering plants comprising the water-plantains

The water-plantains (Alismataceae) are a family of flowering plants, comprising 19 genera and 117 species. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, with the greatest number of species in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Most of the species are herbaceous aquatic plants growing in marshes and ponds.

<i>Plantago lanceolata</i> Species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae

Plantago lanceolata is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae. It is known by the common names ribwort plantain, narrowleaf plantain, English plantain, ribleaf, lamb's tongue, and buckhorn. It is a common weed on cultivated or disturbed land.

<i>Plantago major</i> Species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae

Plantago major, the broadleaf plantain, white man's footprint, waybread, or greater plantain, is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae. The plant is native to Eurasia.

<i>Heteranthera limosa</i> Species of water hyacinth

Heteranthera limosa is an annual flowering plant in the water hyacinth family known by the common names ducksalad and blue mudplantain. It grows in shallow water or on mud. It is considered a threatened species in parts of the central United States, and an invasive species weed in California, where it is a nuisance in rice paddies. It is also occasional in Florida waterways.

<i>Plantago maritima</i> Species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae

Plantago maritima, the sea plantain, seaside plantain or goose tongue, is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae. It has a subcosmopolitan distribution in temperate and Arctic regions, native to most of Europe, northwest Africa, northern and central Asia, northern North America, and southern South America.

<i>Alisma lanceolatum</i> Species of plant

Alisma lanceolatum is a species of aquatic plant in the water plantain family known by the common names lanceleaf water plantain and narrow-leaved water plantain. It is widespread across Europe, North Africa and temperate Asia. It is naturalized in Australia, New Zealand, Oregon, California and British Columbia. It is considered a noxious weed in some places.

<i>Pontederia cordata</i> Species of aquatic plant

Pontederia cordata, common name pickerelweed (USA) or pickerel weed (UK), is a monocotyledonous aquatic plant native to the American continents. It grows in a variety of wetlands, including pond and lake margins across an extremely large range from eastern Canada south to Argentina. A few examples include northern rivers, the Everglades and Louisiana.

<i>Plantago erecta</i> Species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae

Plantago erecta is a flowering plant in the plantain family, commonly known as the California plantain, foothill plantain, dot-seed plantain, English plantain, and dwarf plantain. Plantago erecta is a small, unassuming annual herb with needle-like leaves and translucent flowers clustered on a stalk. It grows in sandy, clay, or serpentine soils, on grassy slopes and flats or open woodland, found in Baja California, California and Oregon. Plantago erecta is a host species for the Edith's checkerspot butterfly.

<i>Ludwigia peploides</i> Species of flowering plant

Ludwigia peploides is a species of flowering plant in the evening primrose family known by the common names floating primrose-willow and creeping water primrose. It is native to Australia, New Zealand, North America, and South America, but it can be found on many continents and spreads easily to become naturalized. It is well known as a troublesome aquatic noxious weed that invades water ecosystems and can clog waterways. This is perennial herb which grows in moist to wet to flooded areas. The stem can creep over 2 meters long, sometimes branching. It spreads to form mats on the mud, or floats ascending in the water. The leaves are several centimeters long and are borne in alternately arranged clusters along the stem. The flower has 5 to 6 lance-shaped sepals beneath a corolla of 5 or 6 bright yellow petals up to 2.4 centimeters long. The fruit is a hard, cylindrical capsule.

<i>Montia chamissoi</i> Species of flowering plant

Montia chamissoi is a species of flowering plant in the family Montiaceae known by the common names of water minerslettuce, water montia, Indian lettuce, and toad lily. It is native to much of western North America from Alaska to the southwestern and central United States and also in British Columbia. It grows in moist to wet soils in a variety of habitat types, such as meadows, wetlands, plains, and montanes. It is sometimes aquatic, anchoring in mud and floating in water.

<i>Plantago aristata</i> Species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae

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

<i>Trianthema portulacastrum</i> Species of succulent

Trianthema portulacastrum is a species of flowering plant in the ice plant family known by the common names desert horsepurslane, black pigweed, and giant pigweed. It is native to areas of several continents, including Africa and North and South America, and present as an introduced species in many other areas. It grows in a wide variety of habitat types and it can easily take hold in disturbed areas and cultivated land as a weed.

<i>Zeltnera namatophila</i> Species of flowering plant

Zeltnera namatophila, the spring-loving centaury, is a rare species of flowering plant in the gentian family. It is endemic to the Amargosa Valley, in Nye County, southwestern Nevada.

<i>Polygala lewtonii</i> Species of flowering plant

Polygala lewtonii is a rare species of flowering plant in the milkwort family known by the common name Lewton's polygala, or Lewton's milkwort. It is endemic to Florida in the United States, where it is limited to the central ridge of the peninsula. There are about 49 occurrences of the plant remaining. Most occurrences contain very few plants. The species is threatened by the loss and degradation of its habitat. This is a federally listed endangered species of the United States.

<i>Plantago rugelii</i> Species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae

Plantago rugelii is an edible species of flowering plant in the plantain family, Plantaginaceae. It is native to North America, where it occurs in eastern Canada and the central and eastern United States. Its common names include American plantain, blackseed plantain, pale plantain, and Rugel's plantain. The species name rugelii honors Ferdinand Ignatius Xavier Rugel (1806-1879), a German-born botanist and pharmacist.

<i>Plantago hookeriana</i> Species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae

Plantago hookeriana, commonly called Hookers plantain, is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family (Plantaginaceae). It is native to Texas and Louisiana in the United States. It is typically found in disturbed sandy areas.

<i>Plantago rhodosperma</i> Species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae

Plantago rhodosperma is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family known by the common names redseed plantain and redseed indianwheat. It is native to the Great Plains and Southwest of the United States.

<i>Plantago virginica</i> Species of flowering plant

Plantago virginica, common names hoary plantain and Virginia plantain, is a species of plant native to North America and introduced in Asia. It is listed as a special concern in Connecticut. The Kiowa use it to make garlands or wreaths for old men to wear around their heads during ceremonial dances as a symbol of health. It is commonly found within the continental United States in the majority of states along coastal areas and on roads, though has become an invasive species to eastern China after its introduction c. 1980. It is an annual plant, blooming around the month of May.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Plantago cordata. The Nature Conservancy.
  2. Plantago cordata. Archived 2011-10-26 at the Wayback Machine Center for Plant Conservation.
  3. Mymudes, M. S. and D. H. Les. (1993). Morphological and genetic variability in Plantago cordata (Plantaginaceae), a threatened aquatic plant. Archived 2011-12-15 at the Wayback Machine Am J Bot 80(3) 351-59.