Plantago princeps, a member of the plantain family (Plantaginaceae), is a small shrub or robust perennial herb. Its erect or ascending stems are hollow, 2 to 250 cm (1 to 100 in) long, and often branched with young internodes that are more or less woolly with reddish brown hairs. The oblong to elliptic, thick, leathery leaves, 6 to 30 cm (2.4 to 12 in) long and up to 5 cm (2 in) wide, are tufted near the ends of the stems. The leaves have smooth or minutely toothed margins, a pointed tip. and primary veins that converge at the base of the leaves. Numerous stalkless flowers are densely arranged in a cluster 11 to 28 cm (4.3 to 11 in) long with each cluster on a stalk 10 to 50 cm (4 to 20 in) long. Each flower spreads at an angle of nearly 90 degrees to the axis of the stalk or grows upright. The sepals are somewhat distinct and elliptic in shape. The fruits are capsules that contain three or four tiny black seeds; the surface of the seed is covered with a sticky membrane. The four varieties (anomala, laxiflora, longibracteata, and princeps) are distinguished by the branching and pubescence of the stems; the size, pubescence, and venation of the leaves; the density of the inflorescence; and the orientation of the flowers.