Plantago cordata

This type of perennial plant grows up to half a meter tall. The fleshy leaf blades are oval to heart-shaped and borne on long petioles. The plant produces smaller leaves during the winter, and larger ones during the summer. The inflorescence arises on a hollow stem and contains many flowers. Each flower has four petals and four sepals. The flowering stalks can grow up to 30 centimeters in one week. The fruit is a capsule about half a centimeter long. The capsule usually contains two seeds. The seeds are adapted for water dispersal, with buoyant fleshy parts and a sticky substance that causes them to adhere to objects.[1]

This semi-aquatic plant can be found growing in and around running water bodies such as streams and creeks. It is most often found on dolomite.[2] It can be found on the banks of the Hudson River in New York. It belongs to a number of plant communities and grows in several habitat types.[1]

This species "has the lowest reproductive output of all plantain species."[1]

This species has declined mainly because of urbanization. Its distribution has not narrowed, but so many populations have disappeared that the plant is "at considerable risk of extinction."[3]