盐生车前 yan sheng che qian

Plantago maritima var. salsa (Pallas) Pilger; P. salsa Pallas.

Herbs, perennial. Taproot long and thick. Leaves basal, ± strigillose; petiole inconspicuous; leaf blade linear, (4-)7-32 cm × (1-)2-8 mm, leathery, veins (1 or)3 or 5, base attenuate and decurrent onto petiole, margin entire and plane to recurved, apex long acuminate. Spikes cylindric, (2-)5-17 cm, densely flowered or interrupted basally, rachis densely strigillose; peduncle (5-)10-30(-40) cm, white strigillose; bracts triangular-ovate to lanceolate-ovate, 2-2.5 mm, margin ciliolate, keel thick but not extending to apex, apex shortly acuminate. Sepals 2.2-3 mm, keel, margin, and apex hirsutulous, keel thick and not extending to apex; lower sepals narrowly elliptic, slightly inequilateral; upper sepals broadly elliptic. Corolla yellowish; tube outside pubescent; lobes broadly ovate to oblong-ovate, ca. 1.5 mm, patent to reflexed, margin ciliolate. Stamens adnate to middle of corolla tube, exserted; anthers yellow when dry, ellipsoid, 1.8-2 mm. Pyxis conic-ovoid, 2.7-3 mm, with 1 or 2 seeds. Seeds yellowish brown to dark brown, ellipsoid to oblong, 1.6-2.3 mm, ventral face flat; cotyledons vertical to ventral side. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Jul-Aug. 2n = 12.

Salt marshes, saline meadows; 100-3800 m. Gansu, Hebei, Nei Mongol, Qinghai, Shanxi, Xinjiang [Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia (S Siberia); SW Asia].

Plantago maritima subsp. maritima occurs in Europe and differs from subsp. ciliata by having the margin of the corolla lobes glabrous.