Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Plantago lanceolata
Common name
Lamb's tongues, Plantain, Ribwort, Ribwort plantain, Ribgrass
Family
Plantaginaceae
Where found
Pastures, disturbed sites, and gardens. Widespread and common.
Notes
Introduced annual or biennial herb with a persistent taproot. Flower stalks to 0.5 m high, longitudinally ridged, hairy with short hairs. Leaves in a basal rosette, 7–30 cm long, 10–40 mm wide, with 5-7 longitudinal veins, hairy, margins with a few minute teeth or entire, tips pointed. Flowers tubular, the tube 1.5–3 mm long, with 4 lobes 1.5–2.5 mm long, spreading or turned down. Sepals 2.5–4.5 mm long. Sepal-like bracts just beneath the flowers 3–5 mm long. Flower spike oval initially, becoming cylindrical, 10–120 mm long, dense. Flowering: chiefly September–April.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Plantago~lanceolata (accessed 1 February, 2021)
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