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Plantago indica Linnaeus; P. psyllium Linnaeus, nom. utique rej. prop.; Psyllium arenarium (Waldstein & Kitaibel) Mirbel; P. indicum (Linnaeus) Mirbel.

Herbs, annual. Taproot tenuous. Stems, leaves, inflorescences, and sepals white glandular pubescent. Stem erect, (10-) 20-60 cm tall, branched, internode elongate. Leaves cauline, opposite, seldom in whorls of 3; petiole inconspicuous; leaf blade linear to linear-lanceolate, 3-6(-8) cm × 1-4(-5) mm, papery, veins (1 or)3, base decurrent onto petiole, margin entire, apex acuminate. Inflorescences arising from leaf axil apically from middle of stem; spikes ovoid to ellipsoid, 0.7-2 cm, densely flowered; peduncle 2-8 cm; basalmost bracts 0.5-2 cm but reduced apically, base orbicular-ovate, apex cuspidate. Sepals broadly veined, keel broad and not extending to apex; lower sepals obovate, 3-4 mm, inequilateral; upper sepals narrowly elliptic, 2.7-3.5 mm. Corolla brownish, glabrous; tube transversely rugose; lobes narrowly ovate, 1.5-2 mm, patent to reflexed. Stamens adnate to near apex of corolla tube, exserted; anthers yellow, ellipsoid, 1.8-2.2 mm. Pyxis ellipsoid, 3.2-3.5 mm, circumscissile near base, with 2 seeds. Seeds brown to blackish brown, ovoid-ellipsoid to ellipsoid, 2.5-2.8 mm, shiny, with a broad groove on ventral face; cotyledons vertical to ventral side. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Aug-Oct. 2n = 12.

Cultivated for its medicinal seeds, locally naturalized in sandy areas, meadows, and roadsides; 100-3500 m. Guangxi, Hebei, Jiangsu, Liaoning, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Xizang, Zhejiang [native to N Africa, SW Asia, Europe, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia (W Siberia), and Tajikistan; naturalized in Australia, India, Japan, North America, and Pakistan].

Editors’ note. The name Plantago indica Linnaeus (Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 2: 896. 1759) has been considered to be a nomenclaturally superfluous and therefore illegitimate renaming of P. psyllium Linnaeus (Sp. Pl. 1: 115. 1753). When a proposal to reject P. psyllium (Applequist, Taxon 55: 235-236. 2006) was considered by the Nomenclature Committee for Vascular Plants (Brummitt, Taxon 58: 281. 2009), rejection as proposed was recommended but the Committee also voted that P. indica is a legitimate name.