Plantago debilis
Encyclopedia
Plantago debilis is a species of herb native to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Common names include Shade Plantain and Weak Plantain.

Description

It grows as an annual or perennial herb up to 20 centimetres high, with green or white flowers and a slender taproot
Taproot
A taproot is an enlarged, somewhat straight to tapering plant root that grows vertically downward. It forms a center from which other roots sprout laterally.Plants with taproots are difficult to transplant...

.

Taxonomy

This species was first published by Robert Brown
Robert Brown (botanist)
Robert Brown was a Scottish botanist and palaeobotanist who made important contributions to botany largely through his pioneering use of the microscope...

 in his 1810 Prodromus florae Novae Hollandiae. In 1916 Joseph Maiden
Joseph Maiden
Joseph Henry Maiden was a botanist who made a major contribution to knowledge of the Australian flora, especially the Eucalyptus genus. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation Maiden when citing a botanical name.Joseph Maiden was born in St John's Wood, London...

 and Ernst Betche demoted it to a variety of P. varia, but this was not accepted.

Two varieties have been published, but it is unclear whether they are still recognised. P. debilis var. parvifolia was published as P. varia var. parvifolia by George Bentham
George Bentham
George Bentham CMG FRS was an English botanist, characterized by Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century".- Formative years :...

 in 1870. In 1937 Robert Pilger transferred it to P. debilis, thus implicitly publishing the autonym
Autonym (botany)
In botanical nomenclature, autonyms are automatically created names, as regulated by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature . Autonyms are cited without an author. Relevant provisions are in articles 6.8, 22.1-3 and 26.1-3....

 P. debilis var. debilis.

Distribution and habitat

It is native to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, occurring in every state and territory. It favours moist sandy soils.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK