78 Plantago hybrida.
ceeding half an inch, destitute of every thing like woolliness at the
base. # Scape slender, longer than the leaves, round and slightly pubescent
under a lens; > Spike cylindrical, not exceeding one-eighth of
an inch in diameter, from half an inch to two inches long, and of a
green and sienna-colour, not deep brown or blackish as in the European
and American specimens of P. maritima. Scapes nearly as numerous
as the leaves. This species, which is decidedly distinct from P.
maritima, I found four years, (now nine years) ago, in the exsicated
canal on the road to Lemon hill, close to the high gravel banks. I
there found it two years in succession, and on transplanting it into my
garden it produced seeds which came up the succeeding spring. The
mature specimens preserved the characters of the plant as given
above.” Comp. FI. Ph, as above quoted.
It is now five years since I published the above account, and during
this time I have three or four seasons, met with specimens of the
above species, in different parts of our neighbourhood. They differed
in no respect from the above described plants. I have made a careful
comparison of the hybrida, (as I have designated the present
species,) with the European and American species, and from both
the hybrida is strikingly and specifically distinct. Flowers in April
and May, preferring cold and tenacious soil in the vicinity of pools.
The figure represents the plant about the common size.