White indian Plantain - Arnoglossum album

Indian plantains (Arnoglossum spp.) are members of the Asteraceae and are most common in the Southestern U.S.  Of the 8 species native to North America, 6 occur in Florida and two of these are endemic.  White Indian plantain (A. album) is one of these.  Classified as "rare", it has been vouchered from just a few counties in the northwestern Panhandle.  Here, it is native to wet savannas.

Indian plantains are perennials that die back to the ground each winter and reemerge again in spring as a basal rosette of thick deep-green leaves.  In white Indian plantain, these leaves are elongated with pointed teeth along the margins.  Once established, the plants send up an individual flower stalk that can reach just more than three feet tall.  The leaves along this stalk are alternate, eliptical and sharply toothed along the margins.  Like other members of this genus the flowers are produced in flattened heads atop the stalk.  In white Indian plantain, they are the typical white in color and funnel shaped, but they occur in fewer numbers than its relatives.  They attract the attention of a great diversity of pollinating invertebrates.

As a very rare endemic, restricted to sunny wet habitats, white Indian plantain is not a good candidate for commercial growers and has never been offered for sale by nurseries associated with FANN - the Florida Association of Native Nurseries.  Several upland species are, however,  This is one of the great many species native to Florida that simply should be admired if encountered.

These photos were taken by my friend, Lily Byrd, and used by permission.