Plantago debilis at Paddys River, ACT

Shade Plantain at Paddys River, ACT

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Identification history

	Plantago debilis	13 Feb 2022	Tapirlord
	Unidentified	13 Feb 2022	trevorpreston

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User's notes

Maybe a plantain? Very long thin flower stems.

4 comments

trevorpreston wrote:

14 Feb 2022

Tapirlord are you sure this is debilis? I've looked at the other sightings of this species, and photos from the internet, and the leaves on my specimen and the others in the area are not like any debilis sightings I can find.

trevorpreston wrote:

14 Feb 2022

unless it changes form in the shade or something like that?

Tapirlord wrote:

14 Feb 2022

Yes, I am, there are 10 species of Plantago in the ACT, three of which are exotic and unlikely to occur in high-quality montane forest such as this (P.coronopus, P.lanceolata & P.Major). Of the 7 remaining native species, P.europhylla & P.muelleri are high altitude species with leaves tightly bound into rosettes. P.hispida has leaves far hairier than those pictured, plus it is also far smaller than your plant, the leaves are too wide for P.gaudichaudii & P.varia which also don't have flower spikes nearly as long as what is pictured in your photo. P.antartica is the most similar but as its common name suggests it is a plant of alpine grasslands and herb fields, it also has a compact rosette and inflorescence which is not true of the plant pictured. Leaving only P.debilis, which although these particular plants look a little unusual, it is probably a response to the conditions as you have suggested. The leaves look as though they fit the Vicflora description of 3-15cm long, and the image there matches. See for images of this species. The plantain sighting on CNM needs a little revision as I suspect there are some mistakes, these, however, should be accurate. https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/7d485b7a-720d-422e-8a80-90dd5e6715ae Plantago debilis (Shade Plantain)

trevorpreston wrote:

14 Feb 2022

Thanks for that tapirlord. Awesome explanation.
I do find the plantains quite confusing as I know they can be variable, and sometimes very similar.

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