Plantago maritima
 
Seaside Plantain

Leaf Cross Section

Nitenai Salt Marsh
30-June-2016

Note the leaves are thick and fleshy.

Maritima: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora and Flora of Alberta leading to this species. 

plants perennial

plants with all leaves basal; NOT [plants with stem leaves opposite or whorled]

plants not densely woolly; NOT [plants densely white silky-woolly]

leaves linear; NOT [leaves lanceolate to ovate]

leaves thick, fleshy; NOT  [leaves thread-like, not fleshy]

leaves all entire, or distantly and shallowly toothed; NOT [leaves coarsely toothed to pinnately lobed]

flower spike not long-pubescent;  NOT [flower spike densely long-pubescent]

flowers pubescent; NOT [flowers glabrous]

corolla-tube pubescent externally

 

Plantaginaceae: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora  leading to this family. 

herbs; NOT [shrubs or trees]

plants green or with some chlorophyll; NOT [plants parasitic or saprophytic, without chlorophyll]

leaves all basal

flowers on long spikes; NOT [flowers in heads or in form resembling a head]

flowers inconspicuous; NOT [flowers brightly colored]

flowers with two floral rings, but with the petals wholly or partly united forming a tube or bell