Plumbago
{{Short description|Genus of carnivorous plants}}
{{other uses}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| image = Plumbago.jpg
| image_caption = Plumbago auriculata
| taxon = Plumbago
| authority = Tourn. ex L. (1753)
| type_species = Plumbago europaea
| type_species_authority = L.
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision = 23; see text
| subdivision_ref = {{cite web |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:30241542-2|title=Plumbago Tourn. ex L. |publisher=Plants of the World Online |access-date=1 April 2024}}
| synonyms =
- Dyerophytum {{small|Kuntze (1891)}}
- Findlaya {{small|Bowdich (1825)}}
- Molubda {{small|Raf. (1838)}}
- Plumbagidium {{small|Spach (1841)}}
- Thela {{small|Lour. (1790)}}
- Vogelia {{small|Lam. (1792), nom. illeg.}}
}}
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).
Description
File:Plumbago zeylanica1MTFL.jpg]]
The species include herbaceous plants and shrubs growing to {{convert|0.5|-|2|m|ft|abbr=on}} tall. The leaves are spirally arranged, simple, entire, {{convert|0.5|-|12|cm|in|abbr=on}} 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.{{cite journal |url=http://www.carnivorousplants.org/cpn/samples/Science262Evol.htm |first=Jan |last=Schlauer |year=1997 |title="New" data relating to the evolution and phylogeny of some carnivorous plant families |journal=Carnivorous Plant Newsletter |publisher=International Carnivorous Plant Society |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=34–38|doi=10.55360/cpn262.js506 |s2cid=254773038 |doi-access=free }}
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.{{cite work |url=http://collier.ifas.ufl.edu/CommHort/CommHortPubs/Chili%20Thrips.pdf |title=New thrips found on Plumbago |author=Doug Caldwell |publisher=Collier County Extension, University of Florida & Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences}}
Taxonomy
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 {{lang|grc|μολύβδαινα}} (molybdaina) to Pedanius Dioscorides (ca. 40-90).{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kaN-hLL-3qEC |title=CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names |volume=3 M-Q |first=Umberto |last=Quattrocchi |publisher=CRC Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-8493-2677-6 |page=2117}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eS7lX_rC3GEC |first=Daniel F. |last=Austin |title=Florida Ethnobotany |publisher=CRC Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-8493-2332-4 |pages=527–528}}{{LSJ|molu/bdaina|μολύβδαινα|ref}}. This may have referred to its lead-blue flower colour{{Citation needed|date=October 2014}}, the ability of the sap to create lead-colored stains on skin,{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7FJqgQ3_tnUC |first=G.H. |last=Schmelzer |author2=A. Gurib-Fakim |title=Medicinal Plants |year=2008 |publisher=Plant Resources of Tropical Africa |isbn=978-90-5782-204-9 |pages=427}} or Pliny's belief that the plant was a cure for lead poisoning.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MMMjW6AuzHAC |title=The Complete Burke's Backyard: the Ultimate Book of Fact Sheets |first=Don |last=Burke |publisher=Murdoch Books |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-74045-739-2 |page=268}}
Species
Plants of the World Online accepts 23 species.
| class="wikitable collapsible" | ||
| Image | Name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|
| 120px | Plumbago africana {{small|(Lam.) Christenh. & Byng}}} | Southwestern Angola, Namibia, and the Cape Provinces of South Africa |
| Plumbago amplexicaulis {{small|Oliv.}} | Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Zambia, and Mozambique | |
| 120px | Plumbago aphylla {{small|Bojer ex Boiss.}} | Madagascar, Tanzania (Mbudya Island), Aldabra, Europa Island |
| 120px | Plumbago arabica {{small|(Boiss.) Christenh. & Byng}}} | Eastern Arabian Peninsula and western and central India |
| 120px | Plumbago auriculata {{small|Lam.}} | Mozambique and South Africa |
| Plumbago caerulea {{small|Kunth}} | Northwestern Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, northern and central Chile, and northern Argentina | |
| Plumbago ciliata {{small|Engl. ex Wilmot-Dear}} | Southern Tanzania | |
| Plumbago dawei {{small|Rolfe}} | Southwestern Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Madagascar | |
| 120px | Plumbago europaea {{small|L.}} | Mediterranean to Iraq, Iran, Caucasus, and Turkmenistan |
| Plumbago glandulicaulis {{small|Wilmot-Dear}} | Northern Tanzania | |
| Plumbago hunsbergensis {{small|van Jaarsv., Swanepoel & A.E.van Wyk}}} | Namibia | |
| 120px | Plumbago indica {{small|L.}} | Indian subcontinent, Indochina, south-central China, Hainan, Philippines, Sumatra, Java, and Sulawesi |
| Plumbago ituriensis {{small|Ntore}}} | Democratic Republic of the Congo | |
| Plumbago madagascariensis {{small|M. Peltier}} | Madagascar | |
| Plumbago montis-elgonis {{small|Bullock}} | Southwestern Ethiopia, Kenya, and northwestern Tanzania | |
| Plumbago pearsonii {{small|L. Bolus}} | Namibia (Naukluft Mountains) | |
| Plumbago pendula {{small|(Balf.f.) Christenh. & Byng}} | North-central Socotra | |
| Plumbago pulchella {{small|Boiss.}} | Mexico | |
| Plumbago socotrana {{small|(Balf.f.) ined.}} | Socotra | |
| Plumbago stenophylla {{small|Wilmot-Dear}} | Southeastern Kenya | |
| 120px | Plumbago tristis {{small|Aiton}} | Southwestern Cape Provinces (South Africa) |
| 120px | Plumbago wissii {{small|Friedr.}} | Namibia (Brandberg) |
| 120px | Plumbago zeylanica {{small|L.}} | Tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas, sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar, Indian subcontinent, Indochina, southern China, Malesia, New Guinea, and northern and eastern Australia |
See also
References
{{Reflist|32em}}
External links
{{commons category}}
{{Wikispecies}}
- [http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/FloraData/060/PDF/V06/Volume6-Plumbago.pdf Flora of Chile: Plumbago] (pdf file)
- [http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=126108 Flora of China: Plumbago]
- [http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=201&taxon_id=126108 Flora of Ecuador: Plumbago]
- [http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/cgi-bin/nph-readbtree.pl/feout?FAMILY_XREF=&GENUS_XREF=Plumbago&SPECIES_XREF=&TAXON_NAME_XREF=&RANK= Flora Europaea: Plumbago]
- [http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=126108 Flora of North America: Plumbago]
- [http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=5&taxon_id=126108 Flora of Pakistan: Plumbago]
{{CarnivorousPlants}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2039140}}