Plumbago
| Plumbago | |
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| Plumbago auriculata | |
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| Genus: | Plumbago |
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Plumbago is a genus of 10-20 species of flowering plants in the family Plumbaginaceae, native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the world. Common names include plumbago and leadwort (names which are also shared by the genus Ceratostigma). The generic name, derived from the Latin words plumbum ("lead") and agere ("to resemble"), was first used by Pliny the Elder (23-79) for a plant known as μολυβδαινα (molybdaina) to Pedanius Dioscorides (ca. 40-90).[2][3] This may have referred to its lead-blue flower colour (OED), the ability of the sap to create lead-colored stains on skin,[4] or Pliny's belief that the plant was a cure for lead poisoning.[5]
The species include herbaceous plants and shrubs growing to 0.5-2 m tall. The leaves are spirally arranged, simple, entire, 0.5-12 cm long, with a tapered base and often with a hairy margin. The flowers are white, blue, purple, red, or pink, with a tubular corolla with five petal-like lobes; they are produced in racemes.
The flower calyx 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 pollination by way of "crawlers" (ants and other insects that typically do not transfer pollen between individual plants), or possible protocarnivory.[6]
- Selected species
- Plumbago aphylla Bojer ex Boiss. (Madagascar region)
- Plumbago auriculata 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 Basin to central Asia)
- Plumbago indica L. (syn. P. rosea) (Southeast Asia)
- Plumbago pulchella Boiss. (Mexico)
- Plumbago scandens L. (sometimes included in P. zeylanica) - Summer Snow Leadwort (Southern United States south to northern South America)
- Plumbago wissii Friedrich (Namibia)
- Plumbago zeylanica L. - Ceylon Leadwort (Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania)[7][8]
Gallery
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Cape Leadwort (Plumbago auriculata)
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References
- ^ "Plumbago L." Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 2002-01-02. Retrieved 2010-01-29.
- ^ Quattrocchi, Umberto (2000). CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names. Vol. 3 M-Q. CRC Press. p. 2117. ISBN 9780849326776.
- ^ Austin, Daniel F. (2004). Florida Ethnobotany. CRC Press. pp. 527–528. ISBN 9780849323324.
- ^ Schmelzer, G.H. (2008). Medicinal Plants. Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. p. 427. ISBN 9789057822049.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Burke, Don (2005). The Complete Burke's Backyard: the Ultimate Book of Fact Sheets. Murdoch Books. p. 268. ISBN 9781740457392.
- ^ Schlauer, Jan (1997). ""New" data relating to the evolution and phylogeny of some carnivorous plant families". Carnivorous Plant Newsletter. 26 (2). International Carnivorous Plant Society: 34–38.
- ^ "Plumbago zeylanica L." Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 1996-03-19. Retrieved 2010-01-29.
- ^ "Species Records of Plumbago". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 2010-01-29.