| Neutral | htop | On May 19, 2007, htop from San Antonio, TX (Zone 8b) wrote: I have not grown this plant, but have observed it in its native habitat.
Redseed plantain grows natively in many states including (but not limited to) Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. It is between 3 and 12 inches tall and has a taproot. Its leaves are arranged basally in a rosette. The hairy, 4 to 27 cm long, 1 to 4.7 cm wide leaves are elliptic to oblanceolate with entire or remotely dentate (have a few widely spaced teeth). They have parallel venation. Long, thin, hairy, hollow flower spathes circle the leaves. In other words, the spathes grow horozontally from the base of the plant and then curve upwardsnear the outer edges of the leaves. The spathes eventually are in a circle around the plant's base. This is one of its distinguishing characteristics Long bloom spikes appear at the end of the spathes. The bloom corolla is lobed with each lobe being 2 to 4 mm long. They are usually erect and cleistogamous (folded together); however, they are sometimes chasmogamous (spreading). The blooms are followed by seed capsules that contain two reddish, 1.5 to 3 mm long seeds. |
