Hello everyone!
I have been identifying Plantago major on iNaturalist and have realised that there is a common misconception when there is an image of a Plantago lanceolata with thick leaves, as these are often classified as P. major. I would like to tell you how to tell the difference, and so stop the misconception.
Firstly, P. major has a stem a few centimetres long where that stretches from where the veins on the leaf combine to the base rosette. P. lanceolata doesn’t have this. Secondly, the ridges that P. lanceolata make in the leaf that run along the veins are usually a lot more dramatic than on P. major, which sometimes doesn’t even have them at all! Lastly, the tip of a leaf from P. lanceolata, called an apex, come together like the tip of a triangle - two relatively straight edges that come closer linearly. this is called an acute apex. P. major, on the other hand, has a smooth curve for an apex. This is called an obtuse apex.
I hope that this information comes to be useful for any avid Plantago identifiers and observers.
Cheers,
Julian Hjoberg.