Plantago depressa Willd.

Herbs, annual, winter annual, or perennial. Taproot long, ± fleshy or becoming woody when old. Leaves basal, sparsely or densely white pubescent; petiole 2-7 cm; leaf blade elliptic, elliptic-lanceolate, obovate-elliptic, or ovate-lanceolate, 3-15 × 1-5.5 cm, papery, veins 5 or 7, base cuneate and decurrent onto petiole, margin repand-crenate, irregularly serrate, dentate, or entire, apex acute to obtuse. Spikes narrowly cylindric, 6-12 cm, densely flowered, interrupted basally; peduncle 5-18 cm, white pubescent; bracts triangular-ovate, 2-3.5 mm, glabrous, keel extending near or to apex. Sepals 2-2.5 mm, glabrous, keel not extending to apex; lower sepals narrowly obovate-elliptic to broadly elliptic; upper sepals obovate-elliptic to broadly elliptic. Corolla white, glabrous; lobes elliptic to ovate, 0.5-1 mm, patent to reflexed. Stamens adnate to near apex of corolla tube, exserted; anthers white, ovoid-ellipsoid to broadly ellipsoid, 0.6-1.5 mm. Pyxis ovoid-ellipsoid to conic-ovoid, 4-5 mm, circumscissile near base, with 4 seeds. Seeds yellowish brown to black, ellipsoid, 1.2-1.8 mm, ventral face prominent to slightly flat; cotyledons parallel to ventral side. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Jul-Sep.

It is a temperate plant. It grows in wet mountain meadows and along river banks from near sea level to 4,500 m above sea level. In Sichuan and Yunnan.

The leaves are eaten raw or cooked as a vegetable. They are usually soaked in water then stir fried.

Can be grown by seedlings.