Plantago aucklandica

Detailed description

Rosette plants; primary root 6-25 mm thick. Leaves all basal, 5-13 per rosette, usually brown, rarely green when dry, narrowly angular-ovate, narrowly obovate or obovate, widest point above middle, 50-116 × 14-50 mm; axillary hairs rust coloured, usually very obvious, rarely slightly visible, up to 6-40mm long. Lamina 40-116 mm long, elliptic, rhombic, angular-obovate, widest point usually above or at middle, rarely below middle, usually punctate, rarely not so, glabrous adaxially, abaxially rarely with isolated hairs on midrib; hairs patent and 0.4-2.2mm; veins 3-7; lamina apex acute or obtuse; base usually attenuate, sometimes cuneate; margins subentire, with 0-24 minute, rarely small, obtuse, regular or irregular teeth up to 0.2-1.6 mm long, glabrous or with isolated hairs; petiole sometimes distinguishable from lamina, 14-55 × 6.3-19.0 mm at narrowest point. Inflorescences erect, 1-6 per rosette, 117-338 mm long (including spikes); scapes elongating before anthesis, not ribbed, 62-206 × 6-8 mm at fruiting, with isolated hairs, sparsely hairy or densely hairy, becoming glabrous; hairs patent; spikes 36-136 × 6-8 mm at fruiting, linear-ovoid. Flowers 44-132 per spike, densely crowded especially above, more distant below (up to 12 mm apart), half of flowers found in upper 1/3 to 1/4 of spike; bracts 1 per flower, ovate, broadly ovate or very broadly ovate, obtuse, 1.7-2.9 × 0.8-2.1 mm; bract margins glabrous or with isolated hairs near apex and outer surface glabrous; bract axils densely hairy, 1.1-2.3 mm long; calyx usually shorter, rarely longer than capsule, 1.8-2.6 × 1.3-2.3mm wide; calyx lobes 1.5-2.4 × 1.3-1.8 mm, ovate or broadly ovate, obtuse; calyx lobe margins scarious and glabrous, middle coloured part 0.4-1.0 mm wide, outer surface glabrous; corolla tube 1.5-2.5 mm long, longer than lobes; corolla lobes narrowly ovate or ovate, acute, 1.1-1.7 × 0.4-0.8 mm; stamen filaments 2.3-4.4 mm long, attached to lower half of corolla tube 0.4-1.2 mm from tube base; anthers 1.0-1.5mm long; style 2.3-4.2 mm long, densely hairy throughout; stigma filiform, undifferentiated from style; ovary 0.8-1.4 × 0.5-1.0 mm; ovules 2. Capsules 2.0-3.0 × 1.3-2.3 mm, 0.6-1.7 mm deep; ellipsoid, broadly ellipsoid, rhomboid or angular-obovoid, widest at middle or upper half, septum not reaching top of capsule, not forming an upper compartment to one side, lower portion 1.0-2.0 mm long, cup-shaped. Seeds 1-2 per capsule, 1.3-2.0 × 0.8-1.6 mm, uniform, ellipsoid. broadly ellipsoid, rarely rhomboid or broadly rhomboid, brown or dark brown; edges rounded.