Heartleaf Plantain
Plantago cordata
Found in aquatic or semi-aquatic in streambeds with outcrops of slate, limestone, or calcareous clay, and aquatic in tidal estuaries. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), South Central edition What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Mississippi. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 94%
- Height
- Up to about 1 foot
- Light
- Partial shade, Full shade, Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Moist to standing water
Rare or protected plant. Specialist conservation planting; excluded from routine garden suggestions. Plant caution source
Hidden from default planting suggestions. Wildlife value and native status remain unchanged.
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Bloom
- March to May
- Fruiting season
- May to July
Not yet recorded · Spread · Leaves
Recorded in 2 Mississippi counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Glades, barrens and outcrops on limestone
Salt and brackish open water of sounds, bays and estuaries, with the mud and sand flats and seagrass beds that tides cover and uncover; the vegetated marsh is salt and brackish marshes.
Who uses this plant?
47CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including MS
Genus host records with ranges including MS · Plantago
- Anagrapha falciferaCelery Looper Moth
- Anicla infectaGreen Cutworm Moth
- Apantesis argeArge Tiger Moth
- Apantesis figurataFigured Tiger Moth
- Apantesis naisNais Tiger Moth
- Apantesis partheniceParthenice Tiger Moth
- Apantesis phalerataHarnessed Moth
- Apantesis vittataBanded Tiger Moth
- Autographa precationisCommon Looper Moth
- Chlosyne nycteisSilvery Checkerspot
Show all 47
- Dypterygia rozmaniAmerican Bird's-Wing
- Estigmene acreaSalt Marsh Moth, Acrea Moth
- Euphydryas phaetonThe Baltimore, The Black Checker
- Euptoieta claudiaVariegated Fritillary, (?)Gulf Fritillary
- Feltia jaculiferaDingy Cutworm
- Feltia subterraneaSubterranean Dart, Granulate Cutworm
- Herpetogramma pertextalisBold-Feathered Grass Moth
- Hyalophora cecropiaCecropia Silkmoth, Cecropia Moth
- Hyles lineataWhite-Lined Sphinx
- Hypercompe scriboniaGiant Leopard Moth, Great Leopard Moth
- Hyphantria cuneaFall Webworm
- Junonia coeniaCommon Buckeye
- Lacinipolia renigeraBristly Ground Cat, Bristly Cutworm Moth, Kidney Spotted "Mamestra"
- Lithophane bethuneiBethune's Pinion
- Megalographa bilobaBilobed Looper Moth
- Neodactria caliginosellusCorn Webworm, Corn Root Webworm, Sooty Crambus
- Orgyia leucostigmaWhite-Marked Tussock Moth
- Orthodes cynicaCynical Quaker, Cynical Groundcat
- Orthodes majusculaRustic Quaker, Rustic Groundcat
- Palthis angulalisDark-Spotted Palthis
- Papaipema nebrisStalk Borer
- Phlogophora periculosaBrown Angle Shades
- Phyciodes tharosPearl Crescent, Crescentspot
- Pyrausta subsequalisMottled Pyrausta
- Pyrrharctia isabellaIsabella Tiger Moth, Banded Woolybear
- Spilosoma congruaAgreeable Tiger Moth
- Spilosoma dubiaDubious Tiger Moth
- Spilosoma virginicaVirginian Tiger Moth, Yellow Woolybear Moth, Yellow Bear
- Spodoptera frugiperdaFall Armyworm Moth
- Spodoptera ornithogalliYellow-Striped Armyworm Moth, Cotton Cutworm
- Tricholita signataSignate Quaker, Signate Groundcat
- Trichoplusia niNi Moth, Cabbage Looper Moth
- Trichopolia oviducaRuddy Quaker
- Vanessa carduiPainted Lady, Cosmopolite
- Virbia aurantiacaOrange Virbia, Orange Holomelina
- Virbia laetaJoyful Virbia, Joyful Holomelina
- Xestia dolosaGreater Black-Letter Dart, Greater Spotted Cutworm
5BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Plantago
Individual names are not available yet.
Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
0Specialist beesPollen specialists
9BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Plantago
- Alectoris chukarChukar
- Anser caerulescensSnow Goose
- Branta canadensisCanada Goose
- Callipepla californicaCalifornia Quail
- Meleagris gallopavoWild Turkey
- Melozone crissalisCalifornia Towhee
- Pipilo maculatusSpotted Towhee
- Pooecetes gramineusVesper Sparrow
- Spizella breweriBrewer's Sparrow
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Plantaginaceae
- Flower color
- Green or brown
- Fruit begins
- May
- Fruit ends
- July
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “March to May” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Green or brown” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Fruit begins · “May” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Fruit ends · “July” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Height · “Up to about 1 foot” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Light · “Partial shade; Full shade; Full sun (documented habitat)” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Soil · “Moist; Water; Wet (documented habitat)” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
Also known as
Heart Leaf Plantain
Conservation status
| Mississippi rank | S1 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G4 |
| MS status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- NatureServe Explorer
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025)
- Mississippi occurrence source
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications