Plumbago auriculata |
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Cape leadwort |
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Habit | Plants evergreen shrubs. |
Stems | erect, trailing, or climbing, diffusely branched, to 3+ m, glabrous or pubescent on youngest shoots. |
Leaves | usually sessile, sometimes short-petiolate; blade elliptic, oblanceolate, or spatulate, (1–)2.5–9 × 0.5–2.5 cm, base usually long-attenuate, sometimes auriculate, apex acute or obtuse, mucronate. |
Inflorescences | 2.5–3(–5) cm, rachises short-pilose (hairs ca. 0.1 mm), eglandular; floral bracts lanceolate, 3–9 × 1–2 mm. |
Flowers | 3-stylous; calyx 10–13 mm, tube usually short-pilose and with stalked, capitate, glandlike protuberances ca. 1 mm along distal 1/2–3/4 of ribs; corolla pale blue, 37–53 mm, tube 28–40 mm (more than 2 times length of calyx), lobes 10–16 × 6–15 mm; stamens included or exserted. |
Capsules | 8 mm. |
Seeds | brown, 7 mm. |
2n | = 14 + 0–1B. |
Plumbago auriculata |
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Phenology | Flowering year-round. |
Habitat | Hummocks, thickets, disturbed sites in dry soil |
Elevation | 0-50 m (0-200 ft) |
Distribution |
FL; s Africa [Introduced in North America]
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Discussion | Plumbago auriculata is frequently cultivated in Mediterranean-type warmer climates, especially in California, Arizona, and Texas. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 611. |
Parent taxa | |
Sibling taxa | |
Synonyms | P. capensis |
Name authority | Lamarck: in J. Lamarck et al., Encycl. 2: 270. (1786) |
Web links |