Plantago cornuti
Plantago cornuti Gouan
Plantaginaceae – Plantain family
Conservation status. Critically Endangered [CR B1ab(ii,iii,v)+2ab(ii,iii,iv); C2a(i)]. BDA.
Morphology and biology. Perennial, herbaceous, acaulescent plant. Leaves in a basal rosette, (6)15–30(35) cm long, (2)4–8(13) cm wide, elliptical or ovate-elliptical, entire, 5–7 veins, gradually narrowing from the middle into a petiole. Inflorescence usually twice as long as the leaves. Bracts shorter or equal to the half of the sepals. Sepals free, glabrous, with narrow, scarious margin. Corolla tube glabrous, lobes free. Capsule 4 mm long, exceeding the sepals, quadrilocular. Seeds 4, plano-convex, almost black. Fl. VI−VIII, fr. VII−X. Wind, rarely insect pollination. Reproduction by seeds.
Habitats and populations. Occurs in wet sandy and saline coastal places and in saline meadows. There are 6 known localities, of which one has been confirmed in the past 10 years. The locality is strongly fragmented and the number of individuals is decreasing.
Distribution in Bulgaria. Black Sea coast. The species is reported also from Toundzha Hilly Country (Kremen) and NE Bulgaria (near Devnya), but the localities have not been confirmed.
General distribution. E Europe, W and C Mediterranean area, Caucasus, E Siberia, C Asia.
Threats. The very restricted distribution, low numbers of individuals in the population and the intensive tourism threaten the species by extinction.
Conservation measures taken. The species is protected by the Biodiversity Act. Part of the locality is within a site of the European Ecological Network Natura 2000 in Bulgaria.
Conservation measures needed. Mapping of the localities, study of the reproductive biology of the species and research for its in situ and ex situ cultivation.
References. Ganchev & Denchev 1965; Kuzmanov et al. 1984; Meshinev 1984; Petrova 1995; Taskova et al. 1997.
Author: Lyuba Evstatieva
