Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Plumbago
Genus of carnivorous plants From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
Plumbago is a genus of 23 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).
Remove ads
Description
The species include herbaceous plants and shrubs growing to 0.5–2 m (1.6–6.6 ft) tall. The leaves are spirally arranged, simple, entire, 0.5–12 cm (0.20–4.72 in) 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 trichomes (hairs), which secrete a sticky mucilage that is capable of trapping and killing insects; it is unclear what the purpose of these trichomes is; protection from pollination by way of "crawlers" (ants and other insects that typically do not transfer pollen between individual plants), or possible protocarnivory.[2]
Mature plumbago leaves often have a whitish residue on their undersides, a feature that can confuse gardeners. While this white material resembles a powdery mildew disease or a chemical spray deposit, it is actually a natural exudate from "chalk" glands that are found on the Plumbago species.[3]
Remove ads
Etymology
The generic name is from Latin plumbāgō, which also meant "graphite", derived from the word plumbum ("lead") and an attributive suffix. The plant name appears to have been first used by Pliny the Elder (23–79) for a plant known in Ancient Greek as μολύβδαινα (molýbdaina) to Pedanius Dioscorides (ca. 40–90).[4][5][6] This may have referred to its lead-blue flower colour[citation needed], the ability of the sap to create lead-colored stains on skin,[7] or Pliny's belief that the plant was a cure for lead poisoning.[8]
Remove ads
Species
Summarize
Perspective
Plants of the World Online accepts 23 species.[1]
.JPG)
.jpg)
.jpg)
See also
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads