Plantago lagopus Illustration Credit: M.Y. Saleem

Annual, small stemless herb, up to 50 cm tall. Leaves in rosettes, decumbent to ascendent, membranous to papery, flexible, broad lanceolate, 12-15 (-18) cm long, 0.6-2 (-3) cm broad, tapering at both ends, acute, base attenuated into narrow petioles, nerves 3-5, pilose to glabrous. Scapes ± flexuose, arcuate, ascendent, 10-20 (-45) cm long. Spikes dense, ovoid, later becoming short cylindrical, 1.5-3 (-4) cm long. Bracts lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 3-4 mm long, hirsute-pilose, carinate. Anterior sepals connate. Corolla bilobed, lobes 2 mm long, acuminate. Capsules 2.25-2.5 mm long, ellipsoid. Seeds 2.

Type: “Hab. in Gallia Narbonesi, Hispania-Lusitania.”.

Distribution: All over the Mediterranean region to Afghanistan and Pakistan.