Flora of North America species comparison

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Plumbago zeylanica

doctor bush, wild leadwort
Habit Plants herbaceous.
Stems

prostrate, climbing, or erect, glabrous.
Leaves

petiolate (to 1.5 cm) or sessile;

blade ovate, lance-elliptic, or spatulate to oblanceolate, (3–)5–9(–15) × (1–)2.5–4(–7) cm, base attenuate, apex acute, acuminate, or obtuse.
Inflorescences

3–15(–30) cm, rachises glandular, viscid;

floral bracts lanceolate, 3–7 × 1–2 mm.
Flowers

heterostylous;

calyx 7–11(–13) mm, tube glabrous but with stalked glands along length of ribs;

corolla white, 17–33 mm, tube 12.5–28 mm (less than 2 times length of calyx), lobes 5–12 × 3–3.5 mm;

stamens included.
Capsules

7.5–8 mm.
Seeds

reddish brown to dark brown, 5–6 mm.

Plumbago zeylanica
Phenology Flowering year-round.
Habitat Palm groves, thickets, shady hummocks, shell mounds, rocky places in open areas
Elevation 0-50 m (0-200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; FL; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America; Asia; Africa; Pacific Islands
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Plumbago zeylanica and P. scandens, both Linnaean species, have heretofore been treated as distinct, the former name applied exclusively to Old World plants, the latter to New World specimens. John Edmondson (pers. comm.) indicates that he believes this “could be a classic case of New World and Old World taxonomists each doing their own thing.” Plants in herbaria under these two names appear indistinguishable.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 5, p. 611.
Parent taxa Plumbaginaceae > Plumbago
Sibling taxa
P. auriculata
Synonyms P. scandens
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 151. (1753)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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