''Plantago tweedyi'', Tweedy's plantain, is a perennial herb in the plantain family. It is native to the western United States, from

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

and

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

north to

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

Taxonomy

''Plantago tweedyi'' was described and published in 1886 by

Asa Gray Asa Gray (November 18, 1810 – January 30, 1888) is considered the most important American botanist of the 19th century. His ''Darwiniana'' was considered an important explanation of how religion and science were not necessarily mutually excl ...

, who named it in honor of

Frank Tweedy Frank Tweedy (1854–1937) was an American topographer and botanist. He worked on pioneering surveys first in the Adirondacks, and then in the American West. He also made major contributions to our knowledge of the western flora and vegetation. H ...

, the first to collect it.A. Gray et al., Syn. Fl. N. Amer. ed. 2, 2(1): 390. 1886.
/ref> Tweedy's specimen, the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

, is deposited in Gray Herbarium at Harvard. ''Plantago Tweedyi'' holotype, Gray Herbarium
/ref> In 1976, ''Plantago tweedyi'' was reclassified as ''P. eriopoda'' var. ''tweedyi'' by Bernard Boivin. In the Flora of North America (2019), Shipunov recognizes it as a full species."Plantago tweedyi" in Flora of North America
/ref>

Description

''Plantago tweedyi'' is a perennial herb to , from a stout taproot. Leaves are basal, lance-shaped, to long, glabrous (without hairs), and somewhat succulent or fleshy.

Inflorescences An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

are cylindrical brownish-to-greenish spikes to long, on scapes (stems) long. Flowers are tiny, to , densely clustered in the spikes. Capsules are long.Tweedy's plantain in Montana Field Guide
/ref> Plantago tweedyi closeup of spike

Distribution

''Plantago tweedyi'' is native to the western United States, from northern

and northern

north through

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

and

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

and

. It grows in grasslands, sagebrush steppe, meadows, and on dry somewhat rocky hillsides at 1600–4000 m elevation.

History

Tweedy's Plantain was named by

in honor of botanist

, who made the first collection from grassy slopes along the East Fork of the

Yellowstone River The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the Western United States. Considered the principal tributary of upper Missouri, via its own tributaries it drains an area with headwaters across the mountains an ...

. At the time, he was working as a topographer for the

US Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, an ...

Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17743682 tweedyi Flora of the United States