Ceratostigma

Ceratostigma (/ˌsɛrətoʊˈstɪɡmə, sɪˌræt-/;^[2][3]), 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.

Ceratostigma
Ceratostigma plumbaginoides
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Caryophyllales
Family:	Plumbaginaceae
Genus:	Ceratostigma Bunge (1835)
Species
See text
Synonyms[1]
Valoradia Hochst. (1841)

Description

Ceratostigma species are flowering herbaceous plants, subshrubs, or small shrubs growing to 0.3–1 m (0.98–3.28 ft) tall. The leaves are spirally arranged, simple, 1–9 cm long, usually with a hairy margin. Some of the species are evergreen, others deciduous. The flowers are produced in a compact inflorescence, each flower with a five-lobed corolla; flower colour varies from pale to dark blue to red-purple. The fruit is a small bristly capsule containing a single seed.^{[citation needed]}

Species

Seven species are accepted.^[1]

• Ceratostigma abyssinicum (Hochst.) Schwein. & Asch.
• Ceratostigma asperrimum Stapf ex Prain
• Ceratostigma griffithii C.B.Clarke
• Ceratostigma minus Stapf ex Prain
• Ceratostigma plumbaginoides (Bunge)
• Ceratostigma ulicinum Prain
• Ceratostigma willmottianum Stapf

Cultivation and uses

Plants of this genus are valued in the garden for their late summer flower colour and their autumn leaf colour. The following varieties have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit (confirmed 2017):^[4]

• C. plumbaginoides^[5]
• C. willmottianum^[a][6]
• C. willmottianum Forest Blue='Lice'^[7]

Notes

1. Named to honour Ellen Willmott.