Thulin, M. (2006) Plantago in Flora of Somalia 3: 291-292
Plants usually annual or perennial herbs, rarely small shrubs. Leaves all basal or alternate or opposite, more or less parallel-veined. inflorescences usually in pedunculate bracteate spikes or heads. Flowers bisexual, radially symmetric; calyces 4-lobed; corollas united, scarious, 3-4-lobed, with imbricate lobes; stamens 4, inserted on the corolla tubes, usually long exserted; anthers versatile, with 2 thecae, opening by longitudinal slits; ovaries 2(-4)-celled with 1-many ovules per cell; styles long, simple, often exserted. Fruits circumscissile capsules; seeds often sticky when wet, with well-developed endosperm; embryos usually straight.
Plantago includes about 270 species. It is cosmopolitan in its distribution.