Broadleaf Plantain

Plantaginaceae

LIFE FORM: Perennial

NATIVITY: Europe

VEGETATIVE CHARACTERISTICS:

Oval to elliptic leaves are arranged to form a basal rosette; they are smooth and pale green with prominent veins and a stout petiole that encircles the rosette.

FLOWERS:

Inconspicuous flowers are produced from June though September on long, leafless stalks.

FRUIT/DISPERSAL AGENTS:

Self-sows readily.

ECOLOGICAL PREFERENCE:

Trampled lawns in public parks; neglected residential and commercial landscapes; minimally maintained public parks and open space; vacant lots and rubble dump sites.

ENVIRONMENTAL FUNCTION:

Disturbance-adapted colonizer.

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:

Native Americans called this plant the white man's foot print because it followed the Europeans so closely. Listed by John Josselyn in New-England’s Rarities, published in 1672, under the category: “Of such plants as have sprung up since the English planted and kept cattle in New England.”