Plantago gaudichaudii

Family Plantaginaceae

Long lived perennial herb to 20 cm high, with a long thick fleshy taproot; secondary roots thick. Leaves 3-veined with brownish hairs in the leaf axil; flower scapes about as long as the leaves.

Flowers: Small, tubular, green, white, or purplish, mainly July - March. Wind-pollinated.

Fruit: Egg-shaped capsule 2.5–4 mm long, with up to 5 seeds usually 2. Mature October–April.

Seed: 2.2 mm long. No specialised dispersal mechanism, local dispersal by gravity. Germinates readily no dormancy.

Gallery images: seed, seedling, rootstock, resprout

Ecology

• Woodland habitat in open sites.
• Common but localised in woodland at the Australian Botanic Garden.
• Despite easy seed germiantion in laboratory, seedlings not recorded in woodland.
• Resprouts after fire.