Family: plantains (Plantaginaceae)
Flowering time: June–September
Size: 20–50 cm
Habitat: meadows, pastures, roadside edges, sandy and rocky habitats
Broad-lanceolate to egg-shaped-lanceolate leaves of the common plantain (Plantago media) form a basal rosette. At least the young leaves are densely short-haired. The erect flowering stems are hairy. At their top a dense cylindrical inflorescence develops. Barely noticeable four-petaled flowers with translucent dry petals are sessile. An inflorescence with sessile flowers is called a spike. It is 2 to 8 cm long, and lengthens further as the fruits ripen. During flowering the common plantain is easiest and most reliably recognized by the long, outward-projecting stamens with pink anther filaments.
Medium plantain grows on drier soils. In Slovenia it is widely distributed.
