Hooker’s plantain

Here’s a closeup of Plantago hookeriana, known as Hooker’s plantain. Some online sources refer to it as California plantain, but that puzzles me because this species doesn’t grow in California, as you can confirm on the USDA’s state-clickable map. For more information about Hooker’s plantain than you probably ever wanted to know, you can read a two-page USDA publication. If you’re wondering about scale, I’ll add that the portion of the flower spike shown above was probably about 2 inches (5 cm) long. And if you’d like to compare a species of Plantago I’m familiar with from Austin, be my guest, especially as it’s been two years since I showed any kind of Plantago here.

Like several previous photographs, today’s comes from an April 27th field trip to Bastrop State Park led by botanist Bill Carr. Also like the wildflower shown last time, this one makes its debut in these pages.

© 2014 Steven Schwartzman