Plantago coronopus

Buckhorn plantain

Family: Plantaginaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Buckhorn plantain is a naturalized annual found in coastal California regions including the northern Coast Ranges, Central Valley, San Francisco Bay Area, and southern California islands at elevations below 300 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces small, inconspicuous flowers in narrow, cylindrical spikes that often nod or become wavy when fruiting. Growing with slender stems up to 50 centimeters tall, it develops a taproot and has coarse hairs across its structure. Its distinctive leaves are 4 to 25 centimeters long, narrowly lanceolate with deeply cut pinnate lobes that ascend sharply from the base. In weedy and disturbed habitats like coastal bluffs, salt marshes, and grassy flats, this adaptable plant can quickly colonize trampled or open ground.

Habitat: Coastal bluffs, salt marshes, weedy trampled places, chaparral, grassy flats

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: < 300 m

Bioregions: NCo, KR, n SNF (Amador, Nevada cos.), GV, CCo, SnFrB, SCo, s ChI (Santa Catalina Island)

California counties: Humboldt, Placer, Los Angeles, Ventura, Solano, Santa Cruz, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Yuba, Sonoma, Monterey, San Francisco, Shasta, Contra Costa, Butte, Mendocino, Orange, Yolo, San Diego, Riverside, Amador, San Mateo, Alameda, Marin, Sacramento, Merced, Tehama, Nevada, Sutter, Glenn, Colusa, Napa, Del Norte, Stanislaus, San Benito, Santa Clara

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.