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An example collection, so you can see what this page does. Nothing added here is kept: leaving deletes it.
Plantago australis; photograph (c) Arnim Littek, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Arnim Littek, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-08-24

Plantago australis Lam.

Mexican plantain; Mexico plantain; Swamp plantain

Plantaginaceae · Arizona, Mexico Central +28

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Plantago australis, photograph (c) Pluto Hooper, some rights reserved (CC BY)Plantago australis, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedPlantago australis, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedPlantago australis, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedPlantago australis, photograph (c) Arnim Littek, some rights reserved (CC BY)Plantago australis, photograph (c) Arnim Littek, some rights reserved (CC BY) 70 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
1.9°C
Record low -1.9 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
22°C
Apr and May at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,479mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
29–42DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes June to October, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

About the genus · Plantago

Plantago is a genus of about 200 species of flowering plants in the family Plantaginaceae, commonly called plantains or fleaworts. The common name plantain is shared with the unrelated cooking plantain. Most are herbaceous plants, though a few are subshrubs growing to 60 centimetres tall.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Plantago", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (973 mm of 1,302 mm) falls in June to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 15.6 °C against a yearly mean of 14.5 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to April.

Rain

1,302 mm in the median year at the habitat, 973 mm of it June to October. Wettest month July at 225 mm, driest month March at 26 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 737 mm to 3,079 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,479 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,302 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 29 to 42 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 48).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 1.9 °C, the absolute minimum -1.9 °C, 27 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 30.5 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 6.2 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 0.8 °C to 12.1 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 22.1 °C in May (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 1.9 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 57 to 68% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +985 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Plantago australis through the yearWarmest months April and May, mean daily high 22 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 6.2 °C; 1,302 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost30.5° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-1.9° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 29–42RH 57–68%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 425 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C18 / 12–2219 / 13–2321 / 15–2522 / 15–2622 / 15–2721 / 14–2620 / 14–2520 / 14–2519 / 14–2419 / 14–2318 / 13–2218 / 13–22
Night °C6 / 1–127 / 2–138 / 3–149 / 4–1511 / 6–1611 / 6–1711 / 5–1611 / 5–1611 / 6–1610 / 5–158 / 3–147 / 1–13
Rain mm35 / 13–16628 / 12–18126 / 9–23751 / 14–273104 / 37–311201 / 89–369225 / 74–380219 / 72–371208 / 104–401120 / 56–32350 / 15–25135 / 8–215
DLI31 / 24–3435 / 28–3940 / 29–4542 / 28–4841 / 27–4736 / 26–4235 / 27–3935 / 30–3932 / 28–3632 / 27–3530 / 25–3429 / 23–33
RH %59 / 50–7058 / 48–7057 / 45–7058 / 45–7162 / 50–7165 / 58–7166 / 60–7266 / 60–7168 / 61–7265 / 57–7163 / 52–7161 / 51–70

Records on both sides of the equator: the 86 cells at least 10° south of it have seasons six months apart and are left out, not combined into a year no place has. These figures are across the 425 cells that remain: the 317 at least 10° north and the 108 within 10° of the equator, which stay in either way.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 425 grid cells holding the 563 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1428:1606 (18.575, -99.675). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -1.9 °C, 1st-percentile night 1.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 30.5 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 425 distinct grid cells holding 563 of the 657 in-range records on the northern side of the equator (317 cells poleward of 10° north, 86 poleward of 10° south: the two sides' seasons are not combined, and cells within 10° of the equator stay in); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1428:1606 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 18.50_-99.375, lapse-corrected +985 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 2341 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeArizona, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Southeast, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Argentina South, Argentina Northwest, Chile Central, Chile North, Chile South, Juan Fernández Is., Paraguay, Uruguay · introduced: Tasmania, Hawaii · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker19.3, -98.717 · in the densest population, 354 records (27% of those in range)
Kew's description“perennial” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1321 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 563 of them in the land cells it reads, of 657 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 996 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 4 km away. 318 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 664 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 1321 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Plantago australis, photograph 1did not loadPlantago australis, photograph 2did not loadPlantago australis, photograph 3did not loadPlantago australis, photograph 4did not loadPlantago australis, photograph 5did not loadPlantago australis, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Pluto Hooper, some rights reserved (CC BY); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (3); (c) Arnim Littek, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Asplenium monanthes Asplenium monanthes Single-sorus spleenwort Photo: CC BY, Neptalí Ramírez MarcialChoisya ternata Choisya ternata Mexican orange Photo: CC BY, Holly Hodges Hesperocyparis benthamii Cupressaceae Fuchsia microphylla Fuchsia microphylla Small leaf fuchsia Photo: CC BY, birdzillaAlamania punicea Alamania punicea Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, harrierHolodiscus argenteus Holodiscus argenteus Rosaceae Photo: CC BY, fmunoz

Other Plantago 51 in the reference

Plantago afra Plantago afra Glandular plantain Photo: CC BY, Duarte FradePlantago albicans Plantago albicans Plantaginaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Collados AnaPlantago alpina Plantago alpina Alpine Plantain Photo: CC BY, Louis AuregliaPlantago altissima Plantago altissima Plantaginaceae Photo: CC BY, Ljaž Plantago antarctica Plantaginaceae Plantago arborescens Plantago arborescens Plantaginaceae Photo: CC BY, Vítor JorgePlantago arenaria Plantago arenaria Branched plantain Photo: CC BY, bernhard_hillerPlantago argentea Plantago argentea Plantaginaceae Photo: CC BY, Paolo ZuccaPlantago aristata Plantago aristata Bracted plantain Photo: CC0, author not statedPlantago asiatica Plantago asiatica Asian plantain Photo: CC0, author not statedPlantago atrata Plantago atrata Mountain Plantain Photo: CC BY, Maria KohanovskayaPlantago camtschatica Plantago camtschatica Kamchatka plantain Photo: CC BY, Nikita Lavrenov all 52 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Plantago australis subsp. macrostachya; Plantago brachypus; Plantago candollei; Plantago durvillei; Plantago hirtella var. plantensis and 6 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataiNaturalist

The record

Family
Plantaginaceae
Described by
Lam.
Native to
Arizona, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast +27
Wild records
1321 in range · 996 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 26 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (11 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 7 at a herbarium, 8 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 18.50_-99.375, lapse-corrected +985 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 182 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…