''Ceratostigma'' (;), or leadwort, plumbago, is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
of eight species of
flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...
s in the family
Plumbaginaceae
Plumbaginaceae is a family of flowering plants, with a cosmopolitan distribution. The family is sometimes referred to as the leadwort family or the plumbago family.
Most species in this family are perennial herbaceous plants, but a few grow ...
, native to warm
temperate
In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout ...
to
tropical
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in
the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...
regions of Africa and Asia. Common names are shared with the genus ''
Plumbago
''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 ''Cerato ...
''.
Description
''Ceratostigma'' species are flowering
herbaceous plant
Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent wood, woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennial plant, perennials, and nearly all Annual plant, annuals and Biennial plant, biennials.
Definition ...
s,
subshrubs, or small
shrubs growing to tall. The
leaves are spirally arranged, simple, 1–9 cm long, usually with a hairy margin. Some of the species are
evergreen
In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...
, others
deciduous
In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...
. The
flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...
s are produced in a compact
inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...
, each flower with a five-lobed
corolla; flower colour varies from pale to dark blue to red-purple. The
fruit
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering.
Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...
is a small bristly
capsule containing a single
seed
A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...
.
Selected species
*''
Ceratostigma abyssinicum''
(Hochst.) Schwein. & Asch.
*''
Ceratostigma griffithii''
C.B.Clarke
*''
Ceratostigma minus''
Stapf ex Prain
*''
Ceratostigma plumbaginoides''
(Bunge)
*''
Ceratostigma ulicinum''
Prain
*''
Ceratostigma willmottianum
''Ceratostigma willmottianum'', Chinese plumbago, is a species of flowering plant in the family Plumbaginaceae that is native to western China and Tibet. It is an ornamental deciduous shrub that grows to 1 metre in height, with pale blue plumbago ...
''
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
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity.
The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nor ...
's
Award of Garden Merit (confirmed 2017):
*''C. plumbaginoides''
*''C. willmottianum''
*''C. willmottianum'' ='Lice'
Notes
References
Sources
Flora of China: ''Ceratostigma''* Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening''. Macmillan.
Caryophyllales genera
Taxa named by Alexander von Bunge
{{Caryophyllales-stub