Woolly Plantain
Plantago patagonica
Plantago purshii
Photographed along Mesquite Wash, Maricopa Co., Arizona. May 2008. A higher resolution image has been contributed to Wikimedia Commons.
ANNUAL: Spring annual rarely taller than 30 cm.
FLOWERS: Dense, woolly spike of small flowers. Four-lobed, green. Each
flower in the spike is subtended by longish (up to twice length of flower), linear bract.
LEAVES: Leaves are narrow and somewhat thickened/fleshy and densly
hirsute. Most, if not all, of the leaves are in a basal rosette.
RANGE: Common in the Sonoran Desert mostly at the higher elevations
along sandy washes and riparian zones.
FRUIT: Dry single-seeded capsule.
UNARMED. Without thorns/spines.