Plumbago

'' '' The species include herbaceous plants and shrubs growing to tall. The leaves are spirally arranged, simple, entire, 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. 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. ==Nomenclature==

The generic name is from the Latin plant name , 'leadwort' (also 'graphite' or 'lead-color'), derived from the word , 'lead', was first used by Pliny the Elder (23–79) for a plant known as (molybdaina) to Pedanius Dioscorides (ca. 40–90). This may have referred to its lead-blue flower colour, the ability of the sap to create lead-colored stains on skin, or Pliny's belief that the plant was a cure for lead poisoning. ==Species==

Plants of the World Online accepts 23 species. ==See also==