Plumbago is a genus of 10-20 species of
flowering plantThe flowering plants or angiosperms are the most diverse group of land plants. The flowering plants and the gymnosperms are the only extant groups of seed plants...
s in the family
PlumbaginaceaePlumbaginaceae is a family of flowering plants, with a cosmopolitan distribution. The family is sometimes referred to as the leadwort family or the plumbago family....
, native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the world. Common names include
plumbago and
leadwort (names which are also shared by the genus
CeratostigmaCeratostigma , or Leadwort, Plumbago, is a genus of eight species of flowering plants in the family Plumbaginaceae, native to warm temperate to tropical regions of Africa and Asia. Common names are shared with the genus Plumbago.They are herbaceous plants, subshrubs, or small shrubs growing to...
). The name
Plumbago is derived from
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
plumbum ("lead"), either from the lead-blue flower colour of some species (OED), or from the plant at one time being a supposed cure for
leadLead is a main-group element with symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal, also considered to be one of the heavy metals. Lead has a bluish-white color when freshly cut, but tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed to air...
poisoning (Huxley 1992).
The species include
herbaceousA herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...
plants and
shrubA shrub or bush is a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m tall. A large number of plants can be either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...
s growing to 0.5-2 m tall.
Plumbago is a genus of 10-20 species of
flowering plantThe flowering plants or angiosperms are the most diverse group of land plants. The flowering plants and the gymnosperms are the only extant groups of seed plants...
s in the family
PlumbaginaceaePlumbaginaceae is a family of flowering plants, with a cosmopolitan distribution. The family is sometimes referred to as the leadwort family or the plumbago family....
, native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the world. Common names include
plumbago and
leadwort (names which are also shared by the genus
CeratostigmaCeratostigma , or Leadwort, Plumbago, is a genus of eight species of flowering plants in the family Plumbaginaceae, native to warm temperate to tropical regions of Africa and Asia. Common names are shared with the genus Plumbago.They are herbaceous plants, subshrubs, or small shrubs growing to...
). The name
Plumbago is derived from
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
plumbum ("lead"), either from the lead-blue flower colour of some species (OED), or from the plant at one time being a supposed cure for
leadLead is a main-group element with symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal, also considered to be one of the heavy metals. Lead has a bluish-white color when freshly cut, but tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed to air...
poisoning (Huxley 1992).
The species include
herbaceousA herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...
plants and
shrubA shrub or bush is a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m tall. A large number of plants can be either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...
s growing to 0.5-2 m tall. The
leavesIn botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin. There is continued debate about whether the flatness of leaves evolved to expose the chloroplasts to more light or to increase the absorption of carbon dioxide. In...
are spirally arranged, simple, entire, 0.5-12 cm long, with a tapered base and often with a hairy margin. The
flowerA flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds...
s are white, blue, purple, red, or pink, with a tubular corolla with five petal-like lobes; they are produced in
racemeA raceme is a type of inflorescence that is unbranched and indeterminate and bears pedicellate flowers — flowers having short floral stalks called pedicels — along the axis. In botany, axis means a shoot, in this case one bearing the flowers. In a raceme, the oldest flowers are borne...
s.
The flower
calyxA sepal is a part of the flower of angiosperms . Sepals in most flowers are green and lie under the more conspicuous petals. As a collective unit the sepals form a calyx, whereas the collection of petals is called the corolla...
has glandular hairs, which secrete a sticky mucilage that is capable of trapping and killing insects; it is unclear what the purpose of these hairs is; protection from
pollinationPollination is the process by which pollen is transferred in plants, thereby enabling fertilization and sexual reproduction. Pollen grains, which contain the male gametes to where the female gamete are contained within the carpel; in gymnosperms the pollen is directly applied to the ovule itself...
by way of "crawlers" (ants and other insects that typically do not transfer pollen between individual plants), or possible
subcarnivoryCarnivorous plants are plants that derive some or most of their nutrients from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans, typically insects and other arthropods. Carnivorous plants appear adapted to grow in places where the soil is thin or poor in nutrients, especially nitrogen, such as acidic...
(Schlauer 1997).
Selected species
- Plumbago aphylla Bojer ex Boiss. Madagascar region.
- Plumbago auriculata
Plumbago auriculata, also called Plumbago capensis, Blue plumbago, Cape plumbago or Cape leadwort, is a well known houseplant originally from South Africa....
Lam. (syn. P. capensis). Cape Leadwort. South Africa.
- Plumbago caerulea Humboldt, Bonpl. & Kunth (syn. P. coerulea). Western South America (northern Chile to Colombia).
- Plumbago europaea L. Common Leadwort. Mediterranean region to central Asia.
- Plumbago indica
Plumbago indica, also known as Plumbago rosea or Scarlet leadwort, is a pot plant originally from India. It enjoys subtropical or warm-temperate climates, or a greenhouse in cool climates....
L. (syn. P. rosea). Southeast Asia.
- Plumbago pulchella Boiss. Mexico.
- Plumbago scandens L. Summer Snow Leadwort. Southern United States south to northern South America; sometimes included in P. zeylanica.
- Plumbago wissii
Plumbago wissii is a species of plant in the Plumbaginaceae family endemic to Namibia. Its natural habitat is rocky areas.-References:* Craven, P. & Loots, S. 2004. . Downloaded on 23 August 2007....
- Plumbago zeylanica L. ‘ilie‘e (Hawaiian islands
The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of 19 islands and atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll. Excluding Midway, which is an unincorporated territory of the...
) Southeast Asia south to Australia and into Pacific.